


The Perks of being Roger's Girl...

by Zwiezraczek



Category: Bohemian Rhapsody (Movie 2018), Queen (Band)
Genre: 1970s Era Queen (Band), Childhood Friends, F/M, Friends to Lovers, Glam Rock, Queen (Band) Lyrics, Queen (Band) References
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-12-06
Updated: 2020-04-14
Packaged: 2021-02-25 23:15:50
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 4
Words: 23,060
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21693664
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Zwiezraczek/pseuds/Zwiezraczek
Summary: Anna is Brian’s friend, his childhood best friend. They were separated for a long time, but when Smile performs at the Royal Albert Hall, Anna is here, invited by Brian. There, she meets Roger, the dentist drummer, a loverboy.
Relationships: Roger Taylor (Queen) & Original Character(s), Roger Taylor (Queen) & Reader, Roger Taylor (Queen)/Original Female Character(s), Roger Taylor (Queen)/Reader, Roger Taylor (Queen)/You
Comments: 8
Kudos: 35





	1. Begining

**Author's Note:**

> First, this was supposed to be nothing very long. But here I am, haha ^^  
> Anna is my OC, she's biracial and an English Major and mostly I think anybody can identify with her and be her while reading (I just don't like the y/n in the middle of a sentence, it reminds me that it's fiction and I don't like it haha)  
> So yeah, here I am with my little love story not escalating quickly ~

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Anna is Brian’s friend, his childhood best friend. They were separated for a long time, but when Smile performs at the Royal Albert Hall, Anna is here, invited by Brian. There, she meets Roger, the dentist drummer, a loverboy.

Anna walked into the concert hall. It was hot in there, she could almost feel herself sweat as she entered the place. She thanked herself for wearing only a long coat above her red dotted white shirt and her brown fabric bell-bottoms. She touched nervously her afro, before going towards the bar to have a beer. It was exciting to see Brian, her friend, playing on stage. It was something she missed a lot. She heard that he was playing in a band, she even went to some of his early concerts. But, sadly, her studies disabled her from coming to see her friend, she only wrote letters to him while being in Cambridge as a broke student for several years. But now, she was back home, to work and study – that she could now afford, not being too busy at University. She could even afford a small flat, nothing too cozy, but nothing in too bad shape; after all she wasn't paying much.

When she heard some agitation near the stage, after her first beer, she looked in that direction. The band was there, _Smile_. She immediately recognized Brian's luxurious hair, she missed her long-lost hair twin during the years they were apart. She was extremely happy to see him embracing his natural hair, because she remembered the times when he used to straighten it. Real massacre.

Anna rose from her seat at the bar to go see them clearer. She tried to catch Brian's gaze while he was adjusting his guitar, the _Red Special_ as he used to call her. She waved at him, he saw her – who wouldn't recognize this afro in a crowd? – and shyly waved back before the beginning of the show.

Introductions were made. She swore that Brian spoke about four members, not three; but somehow, during that night at the Royal Albert Hall, only three of them were here, on stage. Tim, the lead vocalist and bassist, Roger the blond drummer and Brian, her friend, no Chris. Something must have happened, but for now it wasn't important.

They began to play. People around her seemed to know their music by heart, sharing their energy with the band which was exciting and beautiful. On her side, she was mesmerized by their performance. They were in such symbiosis that everything around her – cigarettes scents, alcohol, the crowd – seemed to fade away. Brian was absolutely amazing, she definitely knew it before but this performance brought it on another level – she had to admit that the last time she saw Brian perform was a few years ago. The other members of the band were mesmerizing too, Tim seemed so passionate about his singing, and so concentrated while playing bass and on the other hand, Roger looked so carefree, so wild while playing the drums. Everything looked so perfect, everything was enchanting.

When the magic ended she could go backstage to join Brian and the band. She had to make her way through the crowd towards the stage and to almost fight with the guards around the scene while explaining to them that she was invited by one of the members of the band, no she wasn't a groupie, no fuck off. Finally, Brian had to come and tell the guards that it was okay for her, that she was indeed his friend and she was invited backstage. Anna felt relieved, she had a haughty expression while getting there before it faded when she was alone with Brian, almost alone. She was so happy to see her old friend that she hugged him, a little more than usual. He was still taller than her, something that she always found irritating because she was used to be the tallest around. This was how they began their friendship, height and hair. He was doing well, he was still studying astrophysics, still playing music, and still full of talent. She always admired how versatile he was, it was one of his biggest qualities. Anna on the other hand was just studying English literature, nothing big, but she was good at it. She used to write with Brian when they were in high school, he had such a way with words. Anna only added some touches when he was writing, telling him what sounded better in her opinion, and he listened to what she had to say; they could discuss about the text for hours. Good old days.

Brian showed her around, leading her to the band's small space backstage. The question about not being four burned her lips and finally the fire started, Brian put an end to it by explaining why Chris had to leave them – argument, Chris Smith was out now, ugly argument really. Brian didn't give names, but something told her that Roger, this troublesome friend of his, the dentist, was the cause. She referred to Roger like that in their letters, which amused Brian a lot. When he pushed the curtain a bit, Anna and Brian came across the room dedicated to the band. Everything was blurry from smoke, heat, groupies. A lot of groupies on the couch, three groupies, for a small space three too much. She first met Tim, sitting on one of the chairs while discussing with a man with a peculiar face, but peculiar in a good way, it was something about his teeth... Tim shook her hand with a smile on his face, bringing her back to reality. She told him that she really enjoyed the show they put on tonight and he thanked her, he seemed genuinely relieved that she enjoyed the show. And then, Anna saw this blond head with this little smile, looking at the girls gathered around him on the couch, both hands spread on the headrest. The dentist. Yes, she now remembered that Brian told her about his “attractiveness”, which on the one hand brought them fans but on the other was a pain in the ass, Brian's words. But Roger seemed to enjoy the mess he made around him, if we believed the smile displayed on his pretty face. A loverboy. He smirked when he saw Anna. A dentist loverboy. Great. She wasn't sure if it was their coming or their hair that caught the drummer's attention when they entered the small space. Brian sat in front of Roger, on an armrest while Anna made herself comfortable in the same chair.

“Hey, Rog, this is Anna. You remember, my friend, the one I invited tonight,” Brian precised while pointing at Anna who waved shyly. Brian quickly looked at the three girls gathered around Roger, all having a good laugh with the drummer.

“How could I forget mate,” Roger replied, Anna and Brian had his full attention now. It was quite spectacular to see two persons with such hair in the same room, near each other. “I'm Roger Taylor, nice to meet you Anna”, he said looking at her. “Damn, you two look like twins, even the look and stuff. Brian, you didn't tell me you had a beautiful sister!”

“Rog, please”, Brian seemed to have enough of all of this, he only sighed and looked at Anna with an apologetic smile. She wasn't upset, she liked the idea of them looking alike, it always was fun to be taken for siblings. Especially with Brian. Hilarious situations came to her mind at that moment. Like the time they tried to convince a man while entering a bar that Brian was Anna's twin, the guy was slightly drunk but he saw most of the trick, but let them in anyway. Good time.

“Yeah, nice to meet you too,” she replied, with a kind expression which reassured Brian. “Great show, great drum work and all,” she wasn't really a specialist, she knew it, but she found the performance really interesting, and her compliments were absolutely genuine. Even if they were not totally important, at the end, who was she to judge their performance? A mere mortal.

“Oh you know, these hands can do wonders”, he answered with a cocky smile making the girls around him burst into laughter and cuddling up a bit more against him. Anna just looked up at Brian, a little confused, a little amused. Brian wasn't surprised at all.

“As you can see, I didn't lie to you when describing Roger in my letters to you,” Brian said with a little smile on his face, just to tease the blond. Anna absolutely knew that little smile of his. Classic Brian.

“Described me? What letters?”, Roger asked, loosening the cuddling position he was in. A wave of incomprehension crossed his face, he seemed to be processing every information he heard, slowly, without understanding everything, what Anna found quite funny.

“Oh, the dentist things, he only described the dentist things”, Anna playfully answered, then casting a knowing look at Brian. “Only dentist things, right?”

“Brian, for the love of God I won't become a dentist,” one could hear determination in Roger's voice. He became petty, pretty petty, and this blond hair was only enhancing his childish look which made him look so innocent, even if, from what Anna could read and see, he wasn't at all.

“If you say so, Rog.”

Roger processed the information, he had the whole process of thinking on his face, his eyes slightly shut, his mouth open a little and a gaze into nowhere. Anna didn't really know how to react to that... Absence. Brian elbowed her, as if everything was alright, and then started to ask how Cambridge was. They had so much to catch up, she had so much to tell him, she had so much to hear. Everybody in the room had their occupation, beer in hand, Anna having a great time speaking with Brian about the crazy stuff she did while in Cambridge while laughing, cross-legged in the chair, Brian laughing wile leaning closer to her to hear what she actually said to him because of Roger's girls laughing at his jokes. It was getting later and later, darker and darker outside and Anna had to go back home, into her small flat. Something she didn't enjoy much, she was having a great time there, with Brian, just like in the good old days. But everything had to come to an end. Sadly. Brian offered to walk her home, just in case and she gladly accepted that offer. Brian took his guitar, excused himself for not helping with the instruments tonight but he had to walk her home, safety first. Roger smiled, a knowing smile.

“Roger, she is my friend.”

“Yeah, for sure mate,” he winked at her, while hugging on of the girls more against him.

“Have a very, _very pleasant_ night,” Anna commented while smiling at him. He pissed her off a bit, but nothing to serious, it was all in fun.

“You too girl, tell me if Brian was nice enough then,” he commented and Anna's attempt to reply was covered by one of the girl's laugh. Great.

And while Anna a Brian left the room, Roger was still thinking about Anna.

* * *

Seeing Anna around during their gigs was something absolutely normal by now. She came back to London four months ago, and for the past two months she was going to see them perform as much as she could. In London, at home, everything was easier.

She finally became a huge fan of the group, it was inevitable with Brian's texts. He had some talent, no doubts. She was very fond of _Doin' Alright_ , she always enjoyed when it was played during gigs. Something soothing the atmosphere, dulling the rumble of the crowd, making everything blurry when she was sitting legs crossed at the bar, a beer in hand and watching the stage from afar. And obviously then, she went backstage with them. There, she met Freddie, Tim's friend, the one she saw the first time she came, a talented art student. Shy and exceptional. He had extra teeth, something that made Roger laugh at first, but when he heard Freddie's singing voice, he, and his falsettos, got their jaws dropped. Anna herself was amazed. His performances, she guessed, will be bomb.

Tonight, Roger came in long after Anna – Anna was usually the last one to come into the band's space, knowing how much they needed a bit of rest after a gig – something that became normal, usual with the bringing girls ban Brian and Tim established especially for Roger. So now, Roger came in late. Everybody knew why, nobody wanted to hear it. But Freddie was always teasing him about it. When he showed up with a sheepish smile, some lipstick on his neck and a napkin with numbers on it, Freddie couldn't resist the urge to comment.

“Darling, you're always playing the perverted part after gigs,” and Roger just rose his shoulders, innocently, a dazzled look, a flirtatious smirk for Anna and a reply.

“You know, somebody has to play that part, I don't really see Brian playing it, nor Tim,” he explained, it sounded as a self-sacrifice for the greater good of the band. So dramatic. So Roger.

“Sure Rog, I could definitely not be as perverted as you are,” Brian replied and the looked at Anna, smiling. He once told her a Roger's adventure, when two girls showed up after their gig, claiming they were his girlfriends. He had an immense pleasure watching Roger hiding in closets while the girls were chasing him. Anna made a funny face, and could only nod in order to not burst into laughter while thinking about it.

“What “sure Rog”, mate? And you, what was that nod for, huh?” Roger looked at both of them, suspicious, straightening himself on the couch, scrutinizing them and their chemistry.

“Nothing Roger,” she replied amused, “nothing in particular. I mean, Brian could _never_ be as good as you are at this kind of games.”

“You're on tight rope, Anna,” he warned her with dark yet smiling eyes, pointing right at her. He wanted to know why he was the butt of the joke, right now.

“Literature students are always on tight rope, Roger, I'm used to it. Plus, when you have Brian's hair because you're half black, being on tight rope is your destiny,” her answer was full of sarcasm, but full of truth too. She had difficult times with her hair, really difficult ones. But now, with her hair pal, everything seemed lighter, more joyful.

“Be careful Roger, she's taller than you,” Brian warned him changing the subject.

“And? What does that change exactly, mate?”

“She's taller, that's the joke,” Tim insisted encouraged by Freddie's laugh.

“Fuck you”, Roger replied, arms crossed on his chest, looking from time to time to see if Anna was looking at him. And she was. This dentist was a funny guy after all.

* * *

_Smile_ was dead. God save the _Queen_.

_Smile_ had to fade to let _Queen_ rise. This was how Brian explained Anna that Tim wasn't playing with them now, they separated after a few more gigs together, but remained friends. Funnily enough, the one replacing Tim was Freddie. The Freddie that Roger first called a “dental freak” to what Freddie replied that a drummer dentist shouldn't give any opinion on his teeth, especially when he couldn't sing properly. Roger was red, and Brian and Anna were only laughing, covering their mouths while doing it. But then, they became friends, even when Freddie called him a perverted little brat. Even then, Roger could only be more bitchy than ever and cock-fight with Freddie about who had more sass. Anna secretly loved these small challenges.

As Tim left the band, they needed a bassist. Freddie wasn't really suited for the bass, and God knew they tried to make him play – it was a disaster that Anna never wanted to forget, seeing Brian's absolutely jaded expression while Roger was screaming at Freddie for not playing it alright, a priceless moment – but this never really worked, and they needed a bassist. Quickly. And there he came, John Richard Deacon, born on August 19th 1951\. He was studying electric engineering, nothing too fancy, he looked like a shy person who had nothing to do on stage – Roger's words when he came in, according to Brian – but he shortly proved that they absolutely needed him in the band while softly playing the bass, with such passion, yet stiffly but they could work on that. And when Anna saw the whole band for the first time, during one of their rehearsals, as Mary, Freddie's friend was sitting next to her on the couch, she immediately saw, and said to Mary, that these guys were going to go places. Mary agreed. Both of them thrilled by the aura the group made.

Anna was already in bed, her hair in a a blue turban, thick socks on and under a huge blanket when somebody knocked at her door. She wondered who could bother her at _that_ hour. First, she thought that something happened to her parents, so she rushed towards the door, but instead of gloom and doom she found Freddie, mist coming from his rosy lips as he smiled when he finally saw her open the door. It was cold outside, and Anna asked herself how Freddie was not freezing his ass out there.

“Freddie,” she yawned. Then, she rubbed her shoulder in order to heat herself up a bit. “Come inside, it's so damn cold outside. I'll make some tea and you'll explain to me what's happening to you.”

“Oh, nobody's dead, darling,” he playfully said while sitting on one of the chairs around the small round wooden table. “Not yet.”

If this sentences was meant to reassure her in any way, it failed its purpose. Truly. Anna turned around to face Freddie, the water was boiling behind her, two cups with jasmine tea were ready to be used. Her expression was perplexed, she was still sleepy, and didn't get the joke nor any other information.

“Nobody's going to die, darling, I swear,” Freddie said after a small chuckle as he looked at this sleepy-head. “I just need another genius to help me with a song, nothing more, darling,” he finally told her as he put a small notebook on the table. It once was a small notebook, but now it was composed of hundred different papers flying around and some brown pages. All Freddie's works. Every one of them better than the previous one. And Anna was supposed to... Help him? She heard the boiling water and poured it into the cups before serving them on the table. She sat in front of Freddie, thoughtful.

“I don't know how I could help you,” she admitted and drank a sip from her cup after the water became brown, “ I mean, Brian is a better specialist than...”

“Darling,” he interrupted her abruptly, “here lays the whole the fun. Brian won't know anything about it because we will rewrite _Keep Yourself Alive_ together before _Queen_ 's first performance! Isn't that fantastic?” he frantically asked her, absolutely thrilled about the idea of creating something new out of this song.

Anna wasn't sure about what was going on. She wanted to help Freddie, so badly, but at the same time Brian should know about the changes before their first concert which was in a few days... But everything was so exciting, adrenaline ran through her veins at the thought of being part off a secret project like that. And Anna liked surprises, she liked to surprise Brian a lot, he always made funny faces when something unusual happened around him, and she secretly enjoyed these funny faces and these moments when he lost his composure, just for a second.

“Show me these lyrics, Freddie,” she said and drank some of the tea from her cup, “we'll work this out and this will be the best song ever I swear!”

“Your enthusiasm is so divine, I love it Anna!”

They both smiled before beginning to look at the pieces of paper. And so was the song, divine.

Anna and Mary were in the crowd in the small bar _Queen_ performed in, standing along strangers, standing close to one another, waiting for them to begin their performance. She then felt a presence, some guy tried to touch her hair in the back, drunk as hell, she absolutely told him to fuck off while Mary just put her arm around Anna's shoulders to keep her closer and to – somehow – avoid another unwanted contact. When Anna rose her eyes on the stage, she saw Roger's expression. It was a true mixture of rage, incomprehension and anxiety. She could ready each one of these emotions from where she was. She was curious to know why he had such expressions imprinted on his pretty face, why he had to experience these feelings all together. Suddenly, Freddie's voice broke the hubbub in the room after Brian's introductions and some cheers for Roger, who wasn't clearly paying attention to whoever shouted his name in the crowd.

“Hello beautiful people,” Freddie cheered the audience as a voice rose asking where Tim was and who this “Paki” was.

Anna and Mary looked back at the man and almost killed him with their eyes; but as soon as they turned back to face the stage, they saw Freddie struggling with the microphone during the beginning of the song. Nearly hitting John, nearly killing John on his first performance, with the microphone. Yet, he still managed to catch audience's attention while singing so perfectly the song they all knew, or thought they knew. As soon as the lyrics began to change, Freddie winked at Anna and the grin on his face grew.

Brian's expression went funny. Anna could kill – metaphorically speaking – to see this expression on Brian's face; she could almost hear him saying “Wrong lyric, Fred” while continuing to play on his guitar, which was absolutely hilarious when you were aware of the little trick Freddie had prepared.

The band's meeting just after this gig was the best one Anna assisted to so far. When Mary and her entered the space, Freddie almost ran to hug Anna tight. She hugged him almost as tight as he did.

“Thank you darling, thank you for helping me,” he exclaimed after breaking the hug a while after and fondly looking at Mary then. “Anna's the other genius who wrote this song.”

“The other what?!” Anna could hear irritation in Roger's voice. She wasn't sure what it was about. Was it about what happened just before they came on stage, when his expression was a monstrous medley of emotions or because of the change of the lyrics?

“Anna you didn't,” Brian interrupted while looking at Anna, somehow disappointed, or just maybe weary.

“We worked all night long,” she admitted as she sat on the armrest of the couch, playing nervously with her afro, “and the result isn't as bad as I thought it could actually be.”

“I feel betrayed,” Brian said, looking like a sad puppy at Anna who just sent him a kiss across the room. “No kiss will heal the betray of a friend, Anna.”

“Soothe the pain maybe then?”

“I can go for a kiss as an apologize,” Roger said while looking at Anna from across the room with a playful smile on his face. “I'm all for negotiations.” She blew him a kiss, jokingly and then began to laugh. Roger's face became paler than usual, he went silent for a long moment, maybe for a too long moment.

“You got Roger but not me,” Brian continued, and Roger internally thanked him for his intervention at that particular moment, when he felt maybe too much, when he remembered how pissed Anna looked when that guy touched her hair while he was on stage, not able to tell him to fuck off and when he remembered that she blew him a kiss, jokingly. Softly. He got shivers down his spine, body relaxed, his mind being somewhere else for a long moment as he lost himself into her blue eyes.

* * *

As Queen was rising, Anna became a regular in their rehearsing room along with Mary. The two girls were always sitting somewhere in the room, doing their things as the boys were playing music. Anna found it absolutely calming, even when they were trying to rip their heads off – when Roger tried to rip Freddie's head off mostly – because the music they made right after was divine. Especially when _The Night Comes Down_ was performed next to them, the two girls caught themselves moving their heads in rhythm with Roger's drums while listening to the song. One of Brian's masterpieces, and Anna, as an English major, went crazy when she heard it for the first time. She had already read the lyrics and found them particularly beautiful, but hearing these in Freddie's mouth was another experience, an experience worth living for. She immediately stopped writing whatever she was writing and endlessly looked at them playing, Freddie sitting on the chair next to the piano and Brian carelessly touching the strings of his guitar while John was in the back, playing softly, stiffly. And Roger, Roger never seemed so calm and focused. Anna remarked how glowy his porcelain face was when he was playing, making kissy faces unknowingly as he played. His hair was smoothly moving along with his sharp and precise movements, and sometimes, she managed to catch his eye. His glistening eyes looking at her, and for a second, his confused face became a smiling one: he winked. She chuckled, shaking her head still in rhythm.

On other days, while Mary and Freddie were speaking, Brian in the small kitchen space drinking another tea and Roger somewhere, over the rainbow probably, John and Anna found themselves in the room, each of them sitting on a chair, in perfect silence. Anna would lie if she told that she found this silence awkward, it was, indeed, a great silence. Mostly, John was scribbling something on a notepad, Freddie gave it to him a few months after he joined the band, as a gift and John felt really happy about it, genuinely happy, and Anna would sit an try to write an essay about another lecture she had or about another poet's feature. The would look up, lock their eyes, smile and finally, go back to their activity. It was strangely relieving. John wasn't talkative, and Anna usually neither and somehow this kind of relationship brought them close. It became a ritual, nobody – except Roger, – would disturb them.

“What are you doing,” Roger finally asked, after making so much noise that Anna could hear John sigh while writing something, so she rose her eyes and smiled. He smiled to. Roger smiled too and came nearer. She hoped that he wouldn't ask questions, vain hopes.

“Magic as you can see,” she sarcastically answered as Roger was peeking over her shoulder, “trying to cast a spell to maybe become rich and famous someday and to have a good grade. But the grade part is optional actually,” she admitted while looking up. She saw his beautiful eyes looking down at her, nearly veiled by his fringe. He had a halo made of light-bub light above his head.

“Want some help?” he offered.

“You're a dentist, Roger.”

“Fuck off Anna,” he replied visibly annoyed. But this comment didn't prevent him from sitting next to her in the couch. “I may be a dentist, but that doesn't mean I don't know shit about literature and whatever you're doing here.”

“Oh really? Wow, Mr. Taylor will help me with my essay,” she teased him as he looked at her. “Okay, let's see what you've got then. See?” she asked while pointing at the line she was actually studying, “I need to find the exact definition of the term, so I'll be able to...”

They spent an hour and a half trying to understand what exactly the author meant in this poem, what could be useful to comment upon this Nightingale. Roger was smart, smarter than Anna thought and she was ashamed to admit it. He frowned when he couldn't get the point of the author, trying to analyze the structure of the line as well as he could, while Anna was analyzing the stress pattern of the line, iambic pentameter, fade away... They didn't even notice when Freddie's voice could be heard from the other side of the room, complaining about Roger being “so involved” that Brian had to seriously talk to him, for his own sanity. And maybe John's.

“Rog, Freddie will rip your head off if you don't get up and come banging your drums,” he said, as both Roger and Anna looked up at him, in great confusion. “You're late Roger, and you're lucky that I'm the one coming and not Freddie.”

“I heard that darling,” Freddie commented.

“Shit, sorry!” Roger said, understanding finally what was going around him. The bubble burst, and the moment he was sharing with Anna was over. “I was helping Anna with this analysis and then...”

“Freddie, I'm absolutely sorry,” Anna said looking at Freddie across the room, “it won't happen again! I won't steal your drummer any longer I promise!”

“He wasn't bothering you?” Brian asked, a bit off and confused as he got a nasty look from Roger.

“Hey, I'm not the botherer here, mate!” Roger commented, with or without innuendo.

“He was actually quite helpful, Brian! Who knew something was under this blond wig!” she joked.

“First of all, fuck you Anna and second of all, don't you give me that look Brian I _can_ be helpful!”

“If you say so, Rog,” Brian commented , a smile on his lips after Anna's comment.

“Yes darlings, be all lovey dovey while John and I are dying out here because we can't rehearse,” Freddie remarked, striking a dramatic pose that made Mary chuckle as John just rose his shoulder, having his bass hanging on one side.

“I'm ready Freddie, let's do your thing,” Roger said while getting up, before turning again to look at Anna. “Mr. Taylor was pleased to help you, Mrs. Anna,” he winked at her, with a teasing smile. Anna could hear Brian sigh and catch a glimpse of his deary expression. The poor guy had to deal with this group – Freddie and Roger – all day long, courageous man. “So, we're playing what now?”

“Liar,” Freddie answered, his look full of surprises, Mary standing next to him.

“Very funny Fred,” Roger remarked as he reached his drum set and sat, waiting for them to begin.

John and Anna were sitting in silence, each one of them trying to focus on their work, on anything while the band took a small break. Strangely, Roger was nowhere to be seen, no shouting, no talking, no peeking, nothing. When both of them heard light footsteps next to them, they rose their heads to find Roger: Anna gave John a knowing look as the man just nodded before heading back into his work. Russian roulette: who Roger wanted to bother today? Anna already felt that her essay's conclusion was to be forgotten, not done here, not today actually but how wrong she was. Roger sat on the couch where she was, on the opposite side with a pen and a small notebook. He curled one leg up on the couch, as he put the notebook on his lap and began to think, deeply think as he frowned. He then began to scribble on his paper. John and her exchanged a curious look, as Roger sat silently and began to tap his fingers on the hard cover of the notebook. Curiosity killed the cat. Anna approached his side of the couch, leaving the conclusion of her essay, and began to peek over his shoulder, as he always did either to John or her.

“What are you doing here, Roger,” she playfully asked, as he always did when he came in the room to bother John or her.

“Magic,” he sarcastically replied mocking her as her eyes opened a bit wider in confusion, “trying to cast a spell in order to have a great song, the great part is actually optional.” She chuckled as she remembered saying the exact same thing to him the other day.

“I guess you could use some English major help then,” she offered as Roger always did.

“You're implying that I can't write all by myself?”

“I'm implying that you came here because you wanted either John's”, she began to say before noticing that John was already on the other side of the room, speaking with Freddie, “or my help. But it seems that I'll be the only one offering help here,” she suggested. “What's the title of the song?”

“Modern Times Rock'n Roll,” he proudly answered looking at her.

“Very evocative of... Rock'n roll?” She had a little smile on her face as she wasn't really sure what to say about the song.

“You're so perceptive it hurts Anna, I'm impressed,” he admitted nodding slowly.

“Show me that thing, I want to see the lyrics Mr.Taylor!”

He put the notebook on her lap and she looked at the lyrics with great attention. It wasn't Brian's fondness and delicateness put on page, but something more... Effective? She knew absolutely nothing about rock compared to Roger who was following every trend, many bands, reading, writing about it... And these lyrics weren't made to sound only “pretty” – these actually weren't what Anna could call “pretty” but “accurate” and “well chosen” for this subject – but to state something: the changes in the rock world. So, it didn't require a lot of metaphors, no love interest, no Kings nor Queens, but only words, raw words arguing about the new rock facing the old one. And Anna would lie if she didn't admit that it was pretty interesting to see lyrics under this perspective. She laid her eyes on him, on this porcelain face framed by blond strands of hair and asked if he could sing it. Bloody yes, was his only answer. He looked as excited as a child on Christmas Eve. He closed his eyes for a moment, began to tap his fingers on the couch they were sitting on and sang. So he did. His raw and raspy voice was everything the lyrics needed. Anna could not imagine Freddie singing this song, not with as much passion as Roger did with his own song, with the knowledge, the wisdom. Freddie was amazing, but this was Roger's turn to show off – besides his falsettos that they once discovered when the man saw a spider and began to cry his lungs out, a marvelous moment as Freddie recalls. Anna's mind was dazzled, impressed.

“So?” he finally asked, looking at her a bit longer than he should, making her realize that she went silent for a moment.

“So?”

Nothing to say?”

“You want compliments or real judgment?” she said joining her hands around her knee and leaning back.

“Do I look like somebody craving for compliments?”

“Kind of,” she joked as he frowned before she continued. “It was really good, I'm pretty impressed,” Roger's ego was puffing in front of Anna as a mating pigeon.“But”, she continued as his enthusiasm faded immediately away, “I have a problem with this line, let me show you...” She looked at the paper, searching with her finger for the line that didn't sound good to her ear, not as good as the rest of the song. “Here! _And my musical's life lookin' // Like a long Sunday School cruise_ , the idea is good but... It doesn't sound well actually... It lacks something...”

“Lacks something?” he asked, astonished by her remarks as she began to bit her thumb while thinking about something better. The verb “lookin'” was really bothering her, there was an alliteration in “l” which should be nice, but as a matter of fact it gave a heavy tone to the line...

“It seems a bit off, you know what I mean?”, he frowned even more, but now in incomprehension. She remained silent for a while, thinking about what could replace this verb to make it more airy, a sunny afternoon, a light afternoon... “What about changing _lookin'_ into _feelin'_?”

“This was the only thing bugging you, like really?” his voice was almost full of reproach, but more full of relief. He thought that his song was absolutely off, lacking something more essential, but here, she was just going into details. Which was good. Actually really good.

“Shut up Roger!” she said as she straightened on the couch and pointed at the lyrics. “The alliteration in “f” will be more effective here, it will give a lighter effect than the one in “l” which is basically heavier... Try with _feelin'_ then.”

“You became a musicologist or what?” he joked as she elbowed him with a small chuckle.

“Poetic studies specialist would be more accurate,” she corrected him, “I want to hear it, try it please!”

Her excitement was remarkable. Roger sang the lines as she requested, and it felt lighter, gave some air into the structure of the song. But this wasn't Anna's only remark, the real work only began here. They finally sat there, for a few hours, figuring out ways to make the text as light in sounds to contrast with the heaviness of the thoughts. At one point, their shoulders brushed against each other. They were so close to each other, invading the other's personal space a lot, Anna putting sometimes her hand on Roger's shoulder while he was singing again to give birth to the text again. When she leaned closer, her hair tickled his nose making him sneeze and Anna could only laugh. Roger joining the fun right after. Sometimes one could see some blushing faces when both of them realized how close they were.


	2. Recording

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Queen is rising, tension is in the air. Everything is eased with some music.

Brian promised Anna that he would bring her to Fred and Roger's store in the Kensington Market. She wanted to see with her own eyes what the two shenanigans did in that place, how they managed to make it real and, the most important, how they managed to not kill one another. So many mysteries and only one place to find the answers. Brian took Anna to a nice pub near the place, they had lunch and a beer, almost like when they were kids and their mothers allowed them to go and have a piece of cake in a bakery together, sitting on the sidewalk, almost because back then they only drank apple juice. Brian tied up his hair into a fluffy bun and Anna had two buns on each side of her head, both of them laughed when they saw each other with their hair styled like this. “Matching” both exclaimed when the saw each other.

They were walking through a large alley in the market, looking at the stands, looking for original clothes but mostly for velvet flare pants – their all time favorites. Finally, they stumbled upon a small place, a door so to speak, without any neon or sign but just fancy curtains framing the door from this outside. The place looked pretty much like Ali Baba's den, full of treasures. Brian headed in first, quickly followed by Anna who was looking all around her. And when she entered, her eyes glistened. The candid orange lighting was giving to this place a very cozy atmosphere that resembled Freddie so much. The scent of the cheap incense was intoxicated with smoke of cigarettes, everything was reminding her of their rehearsing room.

They heard Freddie's voice greeting them into the “best shop in the whole market, darlings” before he could even recognize them, but their hairstyles were a huge clue. Freddie clapped his hands as he saw them entering, absolutely thrilled by they new looks, complimenting this boldness and this amazing amount of style as Roger just sat on the counter, legs dangling above the floor.

“Welcome to Roger and Freddie's marvelous shop,” he said as Anna was hugging Freddie who immediately pulled of when he heard Roger's words to face him.

“Freddie and Roger's, darling”, he corrected. “Alphabetically speaking it's more accurate.”

“Alphabetically speaking,” the blond man repeated mockingly.

“I'm on Freddie's side,” Anna said.

“I'm on Anna's,” Brian added as Roger just looked at them with disgust, crossing his arms.

“Traitors.”

“So,” Brian finally dared to ask, “where do you get these clothes from?” Anna was looking through the many fancy fabrics laying piled up one on another, the various collars, earrings and other pieces of jewelry; all these reflecting the orange light and seeming so pretty. She had to touch some of these, making them roll between her fingers for a longer moment.

“A nice guy drops these here from time to time,” Freddie admitted with a smile as he saw Anna's interest for the jewels. “And sometimes I sell Roger's clothes.”

“You bastard, don't remind me that you sold my hat this morning,” Roger barked getting down from the counter and going to grab a cigarette.

“For the greater good, darling! It looked awful on you! You should thank me!”

He wasn't about to thank him, but more about to punch him in the face, without any regret. Anna chuckled while seeing the pout Roger had on his face while seeking for his lighter and cigarettes, her attention fully on the two men now. She gave Brian a look, and he just rolled his eyes.

“Besides, you sold my own coat three times in a row and I had to run after the guys to get it back and give them back their money!”

“I'll never find my hat again Fred!” he dramatically answered, ignoring the other's complaint. He finally found his cigarettes and put one of them between his lips while searching for the lighter he had in his pocket. The smoke filled half the room, Anna felt suddenly happy that the only thing framing the door was a curtain and not a door, otherwise they would suffocate in here. She watched the tension grow, as Brian did too. She decided to put an end to this.

“I'm sure you can find another one in the market,” she said as Roger looked curiously at her. “I'm even pretty sure about it!”

“Bonus, it's not as if it was very far from here,” Brian added nodding.

“Screw this,” was Roger's only answer after a long moment of reflection, the edge of his cigarette almost falling on the floor just before he taped on it into the ashtray near him. “I'm going now because this absolute moron sold my hat!”

“You won't dare leaving me all alone, Rog,” Freddie commented with arms crossed over his chest, waiting for a satisfactory answer.

“Brian can replace me for a moment,” Roger decided as Brian rose his eyebrows, “see? He's totally fine with it!” he added as the guitarist's face was full of confusion.

“I think I'm not very –,” Brian tried to say before being interrupted by Freddie.

“So you leave me here with Anna and Brian? That's your plan?”

“Never said that! Leaving you with Brian only,” Roger corrected. “Anna was the one telling me that I can find another hat here, her responsibility to find it for me.”

“What?”

“You heard what I said Anna,” he answered while putting his coat on and his cigarette out. Then, he jumped over the counter, casually. “So now, Mrs. Anna will help Mr. Taylor.”

“Mr. May isn't thrilled at all while hearing about this,” Brian commented while looking at Roger, not so pleased.

“Mrs. Anna can look after herself I promise Mr. May,” she joked, “besides I saw a beautiful shawl when we came up here and if I'm lucky enough it will be still waiting for me.”

“It's not even about you going with him, fine,” Brian said quickly, “being a shop assistant isn't my thing at all Rog.”

“You'll learn with Freddie, good master, good master,” he repeated with a hand gesture towards Freddie before grabbing Anna's hand and dragging her towards the exit.

Brian never learned.

Once the sunlight hit their eyes, Roger looked happily at her, still holding her hand. During a second, he became self-conscious, he understood what he was doing and let her hand go while quickly putting his own into his pockets, faking looking for another cigarette. He broke the silence by asking her where they were going to go, while lighting his cigarette held between his lips. But honestly, Anna had no clue. She told what she told about the hat just to avoid another argument, the tension in the highly scented air, just to ease things. But now, she got what she deserved for being such a kind soul; yet she was grateful that she hadn't to stay with Freddie in the shop. After a few seconds, during which she thought about the different shops she saw while coming up here, she decided to go down the road, hoping that maybe they would find a hat – or her shawl.

Roger complained loudly about Freddie eating strange things while in the shop, which smelled weird with all these odors or whatever, as he called these. A lady with a perm turned around quickly to look at this young man yelling in the street about some spicy food that was too much, you understand, too much to handle for him even if he wasn't difficult while speaking of food. And as the shock faded on the lady's face and she continued up the road, Anna burst into laughter under Roger's surprised gaze. He had his lips delicately parted, showing his upper teeth as he squinted trying to understand what was so hilarious in this situation. Anna's laugh made some heads turn, as her two buns were going back and forth along with her head. She tried to explain, but her cheeks were hurting her from laughing more and more as she tried to clarify the whole situation. So Roger gave up, just until she could catch her breath again and explain the look on the lady's face, a look that she rarely saw on someone's face. Roger joked about being special for making people look that way, as wind pushed his hair against his forehead.

While looking at the shop stalls as they went down the street, Roger rambled about some music he was writing, something Anna loved to hear about. Since their session of writing, she remarked that Roger came to see her more often with some texts, just to ask her if these were good enough to show to the band. Once, this was Brian's job, Brian thanked her for doing it because usually this kind of session with Roger ended by the blond one throwing things into Brian's hair while he was sitting in front of his drums and Brian adjusting his guitar. This time he spoke about just an idea, nothing pretty serious, as he commented. Something about a mother letting her son go, a mother suffering from this departure; he saw it clearly, he wanted to portray some kind of pain in his lyrics but he couldn't grasp the essence of all of this right now, he still had to think about it. Before he could finish anything, Anna pointed at a stall in front of a shop displaying a large amount of hats, resembling the ones that Roger used to wear. His eyes shone with amazement as he looked at the hats, hats seemed to be one of his favorite accessories, along with a pair of Converses. He found what he needed, he was absolutely thrilled about the amount of hats he could find there and promised himself – and to Anna – that he would come back here to enlarge his own personal collection of hats.

But Anna wanted to find her shawl, this was her only purpose now. And she knew that Roger wasn't complaining about it: the more they were out the less he had to spent time in their small little shop. Always something. As if Anna heard his thoughts, she began to talk about their business: how they found out about the place, how they found out about the guy who was supplying them, who was the big brain of the operation – Roger said it was him, but she had only his version of the story, and she was sure that Freddie would have said that he, Freddie Mercury, was the brain of the operation.

“So basically you don't know where your clothes come from and you don't care,” Anna summed up as he couldn't really answer more of her questions.

“Exactly, but as much as it pays my cigarettes I'm totally fine with it.”

“The ones you went out to buy without your hat this morning?” she teased as he looked at her annoyed, before tightening his lips.

“Don't your remind me about that hat,” he finally said after breathing out loudly, “besides, now I have a cooler hat and cigs.”

“Quitting smoking would have avoided some problems,” she remarked.

“Yeah, but sometimes its quite useful, you know,” he said with a knowing look and a little smile on his face.

“Useful to die, yeah.”

“You sound like Brian right now, quite scary if you want to know.”

“I'm his sister after all,” she answered fluttering her eyelashes. “Seriously, people during gigs come to see me and to ask me if I can introduce them to my brother and Mary is always all merry about this.”

“You should fake being his sister, should be fun.”

“Yeah should be f,” she began to say before she saw the shawl, the one she wanted, the perfect shawl she saw earlier. “Roger, look! This is the shawl!”

Her excitement was to be found in her sparkling eyes as she laid them on the piece of shiny fabric. The golden yarns were standing out in the burgundy fabric with oriental motives, flickering before her eyes. The fabric was soft, and Anna tried the shawl on under Roger's attentive gaze. She snuggled her face into the fabric as the lady who was selling them looked strangely at her, before looking at Roger who only smiled. He looked back at Anna and with a gesture asked her to turn around, to show this magnificent shawl as she said floating in the air. Anna absolutely loved the idea, turned around twice under the amused gaze of the lady looking at both of them as if they were a cute couple.

“So?” Anna finally asked after striking a pose in front of him.

“You want compliments or real judgment?”

“Don't you dare,” she warned him, “I'm not craving for attention!”

“You look nice,” he answered with a candid smile as he looked at her, his voice sounding so soft and he could feel the fondness on his face. He found her adorable like this, this tall girl being happy just because of a shawl. “It brings your eyes out,” he added as the lady nodded while Anna looked at her.

“Thank you, smooth Mr. Taylor,” she replied with a little smirk and rising his shoulders. “M'am, I'll take this shawl then.”

“Your friend is right, it brings out your eyes, young lady,” she commented as Anna searched for some money in her pockets.

When they came back with their beautiful items in the shop, they found a half-deceased Brian in front of a girl asking him for some advice with the coat she was trying on, and a laughing Freddie behind the two of them. As Brian turned his head towards the exit and saw Anna and Roger, he excused himself and went to see the new coming “customers”. Anna could read relief on his face as he trotted to them with a hopeless enthusiasm, before putting his hand on Anna's shoulder.

“Anna, please, don't you ever leave me here again, in this shop, as a shop assistant, that's awful,” he dramatically complained, in a lower tone so the girl couldn't hear them. But little he knew that Freddie was already talking with her about the said coat. Anna chuckled a bit. Brian looked around her neck, recognizing a new item. “Nice shawl by the way, brings out your eyes. But never leave me here again, please.”

“Don't be so dramatic Brian,” she commented while also putting a hand on his shoulder. “I'm sure you did a great job.”

“But at what cost... I'm sure I've lost a part of my soul.”

“Found a better hat Fred!” Roger interrupted the moment between the two friends and Freddie and his customer as he dramatically spread his arms walking towards Freddie. “You're one lucky bastard, Anna helped me and now I'm even more handsome than before!”

“See darling? I did the best job ever,” he complimented himself before looking at the customer. “I sold his awful hat this morning so he had to buy another one. He is very grateful as you can see.”

“Don't you try selling this one or,” he warned Freddie before going to sit on the counter to light a cigarette, “I'll throw my drum set at you.” Anna looked at Brian, confused, but Brian found this exchange pretty normal, violence was Roger's strength. Anna just never saw it fully displayed. Not yet. “Bri,” he called Brian out who immediately looked at Roger, alarmed, “ you should pretend to be Anna's brother from now, should be fun.”

“What?”

“Brian,” Anna said. “Just like the good old day. An and Bri, the siblings and mischief of the place. Pretty please?”

“Why does it sound fun when you say it and threatening when Roger does?” Brian said as Anna just smiled.

* * *

As Anna was drinking some tea right after her cheap solo dinner, her phone rang. It was around 6.p.m. When she asked who it was, Brian's excited voice answered on the other side of the wires. His excitement was almost palpable through the phone, as a child during the Christmas Eve with eyes glowing as the lights from the Christmas tree reflected in them. They were recording their first album tonight, _Queen_ , eponymous album and he wanted to have her around, with them. She was there from the very beginning of _Queen_ and Brian wanted her to be here as they made their first steps into the new world, on the market maybe and perhaps even more. She was part of the _Queen_ family now, and even the boys couldn't imagine recording without her, or Mary, being around with them. Anna's mouth was curved into a huge smile as she heard this, touched by these words, feeling appreciated by the boys. She knew they were her friends, but hearing this warmed her heart a lot. Brian mentioned an argument about money between Roger and Freddie – involving John's discreet intervention – but he brushed off the subject quickly before telling her that they would pick her up in thirty minutes, so she should be ready to go out in this short amount of time. Anna joked about her hair, saying she would never be ready in time as Brian just told her to put these in an ugly bun, as they used to do when they were writing a long time ago. She hung up soon after, looking for comfy honey velvet flare pants and a simple white t-shirt, over that she put her large black fluffy coat on and waited for the van to honk in front of her apartment.

When she finally put her foot outside her apartment she noticed that it wasn't the van that was standing here, in the middle of the road, but Brian's parents white car. Where did the van go? She trotted off the stairs and opened the back door of the small car, she found three people on the backseat, Mary sitting on Freddie's lap and Roger, sitting in the middle rolling his eyes in despair as Anna sat next to him.

“Thank God you're here,” he commented as she fastened her seat belt. “It became unbearable to sit around these two here, all eating each other's mouths. Gross.”

“And you're the one saying so,” Anna answered as Brian looked at her through the small mirror with smiling eyes as Roger just gasped. But before he could say something, Anna continued. “Where's the van?”

“Sweet mother of God,” John whispered, sitting next to Brian as he closed his eyes and put his head against the seat.

“Ask Freddie Mercury,” Roger barked while smiling at Freddie. “Oh, and ask him where is my wage from selling his crappy clothes in the market and also, from the gigs we did in the past few months. Ask Freddie Mercury, he should know.”

“Don't be so bitchy, Roger darling. You know it's for the greater good!”

“For the greater my ass! I hope we'll have something out of this Fred or I'll kill you with my bare hands,” he threatened him as Anna tried to catch Mary's gaze, absolutely disoriented. Mary gave her a reassuring smile, mouthing that everything should be alright once they arrive at the studio. She hoped so.

Quickly, the atmosphere went merrier than it was when Anna entered the car. Freddie's excitement about all of this was contagious, and even John was smiling while they were discussing about the songs they had chosen to record on the album tonight. They had the whole night, so around ten hours or so, to record their debut album. But they knew exactly what they wanted, how they wanted it and knew – more or less – how to achieve it. Roger's song, _Modern Times Rock'n Roll_ was featured on the album, making Anna proud as she heard the title being listed, even on the B side: it was somehow her nephew, Roger's kid becoming her kid too, by alliance, by an “f” alliteration. Roger elbowed her during the whole ride, asking her how was her whole literature thing going, being extremely curious about it, listening about what she was studying at the moment in poetry or in modern literature. She spoke with a sparkle in her eyes, with a great passion and Roger listened, mesmerized by her eyes, by her lips, by her love for literature.

The darkness reigned in the studio, and only a man was standing in front of it, waiting for them. He was the sound engineer who stayed late just so they could record their album during the night; his eyelids seemed already heavy as he smoked outside the building. Their excitement didn't move him, he wanted to end the whole thing as soon as possible but this was without knowing _Queen_ , without knowing Freddie. Brian took his Red Special from the trunk, he was the only one to carry his instrument here since they sold the van, thanks to Freddie as Roger liked to remind them. This wasn't the first time for them into a studio, maybe not for all of them such as John who played with them only for fun, but he wanted to do the things in the right way. Roger reminded that he knows a lot about the studios, and how, younger, he recorded some things himself, trying to impress God knows who: Brian had to remind him that it was in a choir, that he was wearing a white robe and had a bowl cut. Nothing to be proud of, to what Roger replied with a slender middle finger towards Brian who laughed the whole thing off.

At the beginning of the whole session, everything was noisy and messy. They began with the single, _Keep Yourself Alive_. The boys were enjoying themselves, while recording their parts behind the window glass as Mary and Anna listened to them from the booth, along with the sound engineer. Freddie often complained about sounding like shit, wanting to record his vocals again and again, as Brian sat next to Anna after another vocal backup record, hoping that the night won't be as long as it seemed to be. Slowly but surely, they began to record faster, better, with stranger techniques, with strange eye-looks from the guy recording them who was often muttering – as they were behind the glass – “what the hell are these kids doing...?” as Roger was banging on a drum on which the boys poured some coins, the moment after they hung a recording machine to make variation in sounds and the man almost lost his mind; Mary and Anna remained silent during these moments our just tried to reassure the guy saying him that they knew what they were doing, which was an absolute lie.

When Roger's turn to sing came, he was more thrilled than ever. It was already late, and Anna and Mary were asleep on the couch, Mary resting on Anna's hair. They stopped following religiously the recording as soon as the clock struck one in the morning, so both of them were asleep for a long time now. But Anna specified that she wanted to hear Roger sing, at one moment during the night recording, when she was half-asleep when Roger sat on the chair next to the couch the girls were lying on. Her sleepy eyes looked at him, as she smiled and told him “Roger, wake me up when your song will be recorded, I want to hear that.”. He promised he would, and she just nodded before looking at him for a long moment, dizzy. Before he could say anything, her eyes were closed, and Mary was sleeping too. He grabbed a blanket from the other chair and put it over the girls, fondly looking at them – her – sleep. When the blanked touched her skin, Anna rose her head a bit, looking at who was taking care of her and expecting Brian's face. But Roger's soft face appeared in front of her eyes, just like a ghost, he whispered her to sleep and to not worry about the song, he would wake her up as he promised. Her sheepish smile made him chuckle as he returned to see the rest of the band to hear the record of _Liar_ again.

And now, Roger had not the heart to wake her up, Brian was absolutely against waking one of the girls up as they were having their hours of sleep, hours that were needed. But he promised. He couldn't break that promise; but she was sleeping, she looked so peaceful and delicate in her sleep. And against the other band mates protests, Roger went to squeeze her shoulder in order to wake her up, it took a little while, some quiet whispers, until she opened her eyes, disoriented.

“Wake up Sleeping Beauty, our song's coming,” he said to her when she looked a little more conscious.

“Already,” her mouth was a bit dry as she spoke. The words were hesitant, and her voice weak.

“Yes, already. I'm going to record the lyrics, you skipped the boring part of me drumming, no big deal.”

“You promised to wake me up,” she mumbled slowly getting up without waking Mary.

“And I did, be grateful because Brian, John and Freddie told me to fuck off when I said that I had to wake you up.”

“I hope you slept well, darling,” Freddie said with a big smile, a cigarette in one hand, while sitting on the chair next to Mary as she nodded with a shy smile.

Brian looked at her, he put his hair into a ponytail, a lazy up-do for him showing how much they were working, how hard it was. They still had three songs to record if she remembered well, if her sleepy head was functioning correctly, and they had around three hours to do so, maybe more, maybe less. She sat next to the engineer, on Brian's lap, still a bit sleepy but curious to hear the song completely, and Roger's vocals. The music started. Roger head was banging just before he had to sing, and when his time came, his lips pressed against the mic, the words came out in a tired yet powerful voice. His rounded lips were always parted as he sang, eyes half shut, biting his lower lip when he had the time to do so. Anna watched him, as mesmerized as he was when he listened to her earlier, talking about literature. She could notice how his foot was drumming on the floor, as he sang for a solid one minute and forty seconds. A short but intense track.

“Magnificent,” she whispered against Brian's shoulder, a bit off.

“Don't tell him or his head will grow twice as big as it already is,” Brian advised her with some humor.

When Roger came back in, shaking his hands absolutely proud of what he did, he immediately looked at Anna, to see her reaction again, after the whispers he couldn't hear when he was recording, but the whispers he saw and the smile she had when Brian said something to her. He waited for something, for sure, but John just patted him on the shoulder with a reassuring smile as Freddie clapped his hands in order to begin the next song. His excitement quickly faded as Anna stood up to let Brian go into the recording studio for his guitar track, as he touched Roger's shoulder while passing by and whispered that it was actually a good song, but that he was a little too tired to jump about it. Anna, on her side, curled up in the chair Brian left her in; Roger went near her, and crouched down to be at her height.

“So?”

“I said to Brian that it was magnificent but he told me to shut up about it because you'll be too proud, all puffy as a mating pigeon,” she mumbled, not really knowing what she was saying to him. “Maybe minus the shut up and mating pigeon part,” she finally added.

“Happy to hear that you enjoyed how I played our song,” he softly whispered to let her fall asleep again.

“Your song,” she corrected.

“Our song Anna, you wrote it too.”

With a smile on her face, she fell asleep as Roger looked fondly at her.

* * *

It was already dark outside when Anna stepped out from her apartment, going to the group's practice hall. The place became her safe space for work, to concentrate, for anything, lately. Everybody needed a place to ease the tensions in the air, the group sent their debut album, their demo to various labels about a month ago and still nothing. They were all desperate, Roger raging over Freddie telling him that all that money they spent on this album could have been used in another way, a wiser way and Brian had to part them often while John sat, pinching the strings of his bass as he looked at Anna and Mary, on the edge of everything. He seemed to seek for peace lately, he needed the band to calm down but until the moment somebody calls them – even if it was for a negative answer – John's wish couldn't be fulfilled. And they had gigs to perform, but Freddie wanted to see the bigger picture as his band mates were trying to tone him down, to not let him fall out of disappointment.

So the practice hall became a space where they had their rehearsals, yes, but some game afternoons, playing Scrabble all together, with or without the girls and Chrisssy – Brian's new girlfriend – , having little parties all together, having fun just to ease all these tensions between them. And mostly, it worked. Mostly.

And Anna found her sanctuary in there, being able to work with music, laughter, friends. It felt a lot better than being at the library or in her apartment, all by herself. So, tonight, around midnight, she decided that the practice hall would be the perfect place to work a bit; she had the keys, Brian gave her the keys. She walked under the moonlight, three books held against her side, her footsteps resonating on the empty roads. It was cold outside, but not enough to prevent her from going there. As she approached the place, she could hear noise. That was pretty surprising. She pressed her ear against the door, once she was inside the building, going into the hall: she heard drums. Violent drums, a hoarse and sleepy voice as the cacophony pulsed in the building. Roger. Of course it was Roger. She delicately opened the door, for him to not notice her, and she saw him. Shirtless and sweaty, hair strands against his forehead and some others flying around as he hit the drums, harder and harder at every movement. Concentrated, focused, he didn't even hear her opening the door and beginning to step in. She looked at him from afar, admiring the energy he radiated with wile playing alone, singing, all by himself. She felt like an intruder, violating his safe space, his little moment of anger, of rage. She could see the shift of emotion in his gestures, this was the pissed Roger, the one wanting to release his frustrations in music, on the drums, singing. “You won't need nobody else, but me.” He abruptly stopped to reach for a cigarette and a lighter. This is when he saw Anna.

First, she could see panic in his eyes. For a second, he didn't know what was happening here, who was she, his expression shifted from fear into incomprehension, then to confusion.

“No burglar Roger, just me, Anna,” she reassured him. “Nice lyrics.”

“Damn, Anna, what are you doing here alone at night? Are you insane?” he asked while putting the cigarettes back on the floor and reaching for his shirt.

“So we both are,” she commented while stepping more into the room.

“It's dangerous around here, at night,” he said to her, concerned as he got up to meet her, “you should be more careful when you go out during night.”

“Because I could meet a Roger Taylor? I don't think it would be a big issue,” Anna seemed fearless, she was more reckless than fearless when she wanted something. Usually, she thought about her deeds, but tonight, when she couldn't find another solution to continue her essay she decided that would be the solution.

“Don't joke around about it like that, we never know what could happen to you,” he replied, alarmed. He seemed to care a lot, as if he could lose her during that night for any reason. “Nobody would like to find you raped and dead, I can assure you.”

“It would be a great song title,” she remarked as she sat where she used to and Roger joined her on the other side of the couch, “all dead, all dead.” She took her coat off and put her next to her, before meeting Roger's not so amused gaze. He looked like an over-protective Brian. “Jesus, I'm doing alright, okay? I'm not dead, not all dead, yet, so no worries Roger.”

“Yeah... I'll have to walk you home then, or Brian will kill me.”

“You're more afraid for yourself than for me, great to know what pissed you so much,” she replied before opening her books on the table. She had to write that essay, or at least begin to draft something about it.

“Another problematic essay?”

“More than that, it's practically hell. Another stressful sleepless night?” her voice sounded concerned. And she was about everything that was happening to _Queen_. Roger was mostly trying to brush everything off, he didn't want to talk about how frustrated he was about it, he wouldn't open up, just bark at Freddie for the goddamn van and their money. Never speaking about what he felt about this, drowning everything in sass, girls, drums. Mostly girls after gigs.

“Kind of,” he quietly replied as he was playing with his fingers. Anna could feel his tension just in this small gesture, she knew Roger for a few months, she definitely could see whether he was at ease or not. “Do you mind if I continue playing and rambling my stuff?”

“I'm the intruder here, do as you please Mr. Taylor,” she said attempting to make him smile a bit. A successful attempt. “I really enjoyed your rambling earlier, could become something good actually. Very romantic stuff.”

He bowed in front of her, regaining some spirits as he walked towards his drum set. When he sat and began to play, to “ramble” as he said, she began to write, more an more, her head slightly moving in harmony with the beat and his voice. Exactly what she needed, percussion and lyrics. None of them spoke to each other during this moment of communion, Roger into music and Anna into literature.

Until three in the morning, both of them did what they had to. And eventually, Roger progressively stopped playing. Anna rose hear head to see what he was doing now, he light up a cigarette before heading toward her, to sit on the couch next to her. He sat, eyes half closed now, observing her with her halo made of light above her head. He needed some sleep, absolutely now. And they couldn't stay there for the night, both of them had to go back home. She closed her books, and told him that he was about to go home since she did most of the things she wanted to.

Happily, he got up, yawning. He looked for his jacket for a moment, eyes fluttering with tiredness as Anna put her coat on. He closed the door behind her as they left. It was cold outside, the air was fresh, day wasn't still there. First, they walked quietly, slowly but then Anna had to break the ice. She told him about Cambridge and her last year's experience as they walked towards her home, and Roger listened to her, still a bit off, hands in his pockets. He enjoyed the moments he could have with her because it was all about something else, no compliments, he couldn't see the groupie look in her eyes, the look he saw every night, and every night as a moth he was drawn to it. Against his will or not, he couldn't define it yet. But Anna was another kind of light, a giving light, not a taking one. She gave him time, she tried to understand him and the other members of the band without never being all sweet and kind just to please them: she was honest, just as Mary. If not even more.

He didn't know when they arrived in front of her apartment, when she smiled and told him goodnight before hugging him and whispering him to take care of himself, to sleep and to not worry too much, “it should be doing alright, doing alright” she sang, all amused before going up the stairs.


	3. Paying Off

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Freddie's birthday, a lucky day leading to February in 1974...

Holding a package against her side, Anna walked on the pavement, looking for the house Freddie lived in with his parents. This neighborhood seemed pretty nice, the detached-houses painted with pastel colors made everything look warmer, cozier, friendlier and safer. The leaves slowly burnt into an orange color, falling slowly on the ground: autumn came in pretty quickly this year, just a few days after August. Anna looked up, the address she had matched with the number she found: she hoped that somebody would already be there, at least Mary, because, she had to admit it, she never felt at ease with new people. Especially parents, her friend's parents. Anna felt at ease with Brian's parents, only because they became her parent's friends, but otherwise Anna was the quiet friend when her friend's parents were around.

She rang the door, and a lovely woman with a warm smile opened, greeting her and inviting her to come in. As soon as Freddie saw her, he went to the lobby to embrace her, before she could even give him the gift she had for him – a shawl, she really had a thing for shawls lately – which she thought would fit Freddie perfectly. At the very end of the table, Freddie's father was sitting, majestic, and impressive, not a single emotion on his face, which seemed pretty scary at first, but Anna could work up with that. John already sat there, chatting with Freddie's sister, Kashemira, a cup of tea in his hand. Mary and her deaf dad were also there. “Presenting the step-family,” Anna joked when Freddie told her about inviting him. And Roger, sitting next to John, trying to talk with Kashemira and John, unsuccessfully. And when he saw her, he smiled, and waved, shyly, before showing her the place next to him. Anna couldn't refuse, and another place was empty, she could save it for Brian. Whom arrived late, scolded by Freddie himself, because of his parent's car being extremely moody lately.

After a lovely dinner, and the opening of the presents, Freddie's mother brought the birthday cake, as Anna chatted carelessly with Brian about the bloody car needing to be repaired but he still couldn't afford it, neither did his parents. He was thinking about buying a car for himself, to which information Roger replied with great enthusiasm, offering his help with the choice – with taste and budget, he said.

“I am so glad to see that Farrokh made such amazing friends, and has such a delightful girlfriend,” Freddie's mother said after putting the cake in front of the birthday boy, and looking fondly at him then at them.

“Farrokh,” Mary repeated, as everybody looked curiously at Freddie whose face expressed panic. He looked at his mother, reproaching her what she had just said.

“Did Farrokh not tell you he was born in Zanzibar,” his mother continued, without even paying attention to her son's eyes. Brian frowned, and shook his head before looking at Freddie, intensely.

“I used to know a girl who was Zanzibari,” Roger commented proudly, probably, as he looked at Anna and she smiled back at him.

“Such an international man,” she commented sarcastically.

“I thought Freddie was born in London,” John said, interrupting the two's little conversation, among others.

“Oh yes, he was... At the age of eighteen,” Kash commented, with a smirk on her face, looking directly at Freddie.

“Shut up,” he quickly snapped, a cue which nobody paid attention to.

“Our family is Indian Parsee,” their mother continued, as she went to look for their family album.

“Mom, please don't,” he almost begged her – he begged her.

“We want to see,” Mary insisted, encouraging their mother, with Anna's approval, nodding vigorously.

“Let's have a look at these then, the ladies want it,” she concluded, delighted, as she put the album in front of Mary.

“We need to see those,” Brian commented, before Freddie's father began to explain the Parsee history, absorbing Brian and John mostly.

“Look at this,” Mary said, showing Anna the picture of Freddie from across the table. She took a better look at it, a young and slender Freddie with boxing gloves on his hands. His teeth clearly prominent on his pretty face, and an unsure look. Nothing that Freddie was at that moment. Especially not unsure.

“He was quite a good boxer,” their mother proudly affirmed. Roger, when Freddie got up to the living room – seeking for sanctuary from the shame his mother was putting him in, sitting on the piano chair, and beginning to hit delicately the keys – took place next to Kashemira, leaving Anna alone, but not for long: John soon took place next to her.

“He had to be,” Kashemira jokingly said, “his opponents were trying to punch his teeth in!”

“Fair enough, good target,” Roger almost cooed into Kashmira's ear. Anna rolled her eyes, being apparently the only one to notice this little game of his in the middle of the whole agitation.

Agitation leading Freddie to sit by the piano, moving his fingers without any purpose on the keys, and humming something, “I come from London town”. Anna looked back, distracted from the chatter all around her to look at Freddie, singing a happy birthday to himself, catching her smile as she mouthed “beautiful” and he bowed. What an amazing human being, Anna thought before Brian's hand met her shoulder to catch her attention again. Even the ringing phone that Kashemira gave to Freddie right after didn't draw her attention to what was happening in the living room – almost silence, something unusual for Freddie being in presence of an instrument near him.

“So Freddie told me you're a sort of scientist,” their mother told Brian, with the album between his hands, handing it to Anna now as he looked her in the eyes, smiling. Anna grabbed what he gave her, and showed it to John, who quickly glanced over the pictures.

“Astrophysics actually,” Brian corrected.

“He is very good at it,” Anna added, and Brian just waved it off, shyly.

“And he's a dentist,” John intervened, pointing Roger, sitting next to Kashemira, his hand lazily resting on her backrest.

“I was never a dentist,” he emphasized. “Never.”

“He's a dentist,” John and Anna replied in unison, before laughing as they saw Roger's displeased face.

“I personally wouldn't let him touch my teeth,” Brian admitted, “did you know that on the last exam he told his teacher that he doesn't know the meaning of a word in Greek because 'we're not studying Greek here, we're dentists!',” Brian imitated Roger's offended and annoyed voice, and the real Roger could just roll his eyes before turning towards Kashemira.

“Kash, what are you doing later,” he carelessly asked, recovering pretty quickly from what was previously said about him.

“Homework,” she confusingly replied.

“No, she won't let you examine her teeth, Roger,” Anna said, before anybody could draw their attention to what Roger was actually doing. “Don't you see, her teeth are perfectly white and beautiful even from there?”

“I just wanted to check if,” Roger began before being interrupted by John.

“He needs to wear his glasses,” John's word snapped right in front of Roger, displeased at least.

“John, by the bloody gods....”

“I have an announcement,” Freddie solemnly said, cutting short the beginning of a heated discussion about Roger's sight. “One of the A&R men from EMI got our demo, and gave it to John Reid. You know, the one looking after Elton John,” Anna and Mary's eyes met, glistening in anticipation already. “Mr. Reid wants to meet us, Queen, and who knows, even manage us.”

“Oh shut up,” was the only reaction coming from John's lips as he leaned back on his chair, putting his face into his hands.

“You're joking,” Roger said, and immediately after looked at Anna who smiled at him, her head resting on Brian's shoulder.

“He said he wants to see us tomorrow, midday, in the pub next to the Thames,” Freddie added, putting his hand around Mary's neck, and smiling.

After the desert, the rain.

* * *

Anna and Mary stood next to the props, arms crossed. The boys were looking absolutely marvelous, the makeup team and the stylist outdid themselves, truly. Brian looked like a majestic black butterfly as he held the unplugged Red Special in his hands, the sleeves of his shirt creating the most beautiful curtain under his arms as the collar was richly decorated with shiny pearls, Zandra Rhodes he said to her as they dressed him up. Freddie's look was truly outrageous, the sparkling glove added a magical touch to all of this as he held the microphone with his black painted nails, taping on it nervously now. The black leather jacket John wore made him look uncomfortable during the whole embarrassing moment, but he said nothing, nodding slightly as the atmosphere heated up quickly. But Anna's gaze was mostly drawn towards Roger and the silver choker he wore. His hair was nonchalantly falling on his shoulders, giving him an absolutely angelic look despite wearing only black. He looked almost too pretty to be a man, and Anna would lie if she wasn't jealous about the look he had right now. But, on the other hand, she didn't envy the situation the boys were put in, making this angelic face look like the face of a demon.

“This is shit,” Roger exclaimed, hitting the plastic drums with an energy he seemed to never have before, fueled by pure rage and anger.

And he was the first one to find the whole situation pretty hilarious as the staff members told them that they had to perform on tape, no real playing, It annoyed him but he knew that the drums had a sound when properly hit and hoped – God knows he hoped – that the drums he would be given would be decent ones. Everything was fun and entertaining until he saw the prop, the drum kit, this plastic toy and began to boil from the inside with the greatest rage anybody saw coming from Roger – which John found absolutely terrifying, as he told Anna.

“Are you joking,” Roger aggressively asked the poor staff member as his angelic eyes full of rage looked at him. “Put three pans and four plates and give me two chopsticks and it'll be less embarrassing, mate! A fucking children drum kit? Do you know how much I could screw your bloody teeth if I wanted to?” He was almost throwing hands with this poor staff member who followed the orders he was given.

“Roger,” Anna started before being interrupted by the director of the performance, coming near them.

“The blond man should calm down. Nobody will know the difference,” he stated.

“We will know the bloody difference,” Brian added, trying to step out a bit to not let Roger's anger explode.

“You want me to lip sync,” Freddie said with a threatening tone, as their manager stepped between the two of them.

“You'll do what I want: this is the BBC!” he concluded, turning back and going to settle everything.

“Sir, they'll be fine Sir,” their manager said, following him quickly before turning around to address the boys, “you'll be great guys!”

“This is the BBC,” Brian mocked when the two men were far enough. “Killjoy.”

“Even more than that,” Anna said. “So disappointed in Top Of The Pops...”

“Disgusted,” he even completed, scratching a few strings of the Red Special.

“I'm relieved,” John finally said, bringing the whole attention to him and especially Roger's. “Perfect performance.”

“Yeah, on your bass and not on some plastic shit they got second hand from a thrift shop, mate,” Roger complained, sour and dissatisfied.

“Darlings,” Freddie said just before Roger could burst into another wave of complaints, “we shouldn't be upset now. They want lip sync? Queen shall provide,” he explained as he bowed, his microphone in hand and all confused looks on him – but Mary's.

“Fred, I'm afraid,” Brian confessed.

“Me too,” John added as Anna just looked at him, nodding.

“Do as you please, darlings. I don't care anymore. We should have fun, play along, do whatever we want to because nobody will know the difference,” he added with a smirk before he took Mary by the hand to the center of the stage to show her something.

“Weird,” Anna commented, “but in a good kind of way.”

“I don't fucking care anymore,” Roger said, a strange feeling crossing his face, a perfect mix of anger and sarcasm, “no effort for my drum kit? Fine. No effort in this bloody last minute performance of _Seven Seas of Rhye_. Simple.”

And as Anna looked scared at Brian, a bell rang to notify the extras to leave the stage because the performance was soon to be started. Quickly, Anna found herself near Mary, in the crowd of young people ready to dance to the tune of _Queen_ 's song. As they heard the first notes of the piano blasting from the speakers, and Brian beginning to play, they looked at each one of the boys, faking the whole performance. From time to time they cast them a look, smiling eyes as they were playing with this ridiculous situation.

What Anna found extraordinary was Roger's attitude during the whole show. They gave him poor instruments? Fine, he would give a poor performance then. His drumsticks were barely brushing against the drum kit, as he put no effort into his movements making him look sluggish, even distant. His face seemed much more relaxed than usual, and his half-closed eyes showed his annoyance to anybody who knew him a bit. His lips were hardly pressed against the microphone as he had “to hit” some of his falsettos, his eyes avoiding the cameras around him. The only smile he gave was to Freddie, when the lead singer turned back to face him during a short moment. And another one, when he caught Anna's gaze on him. And then, a girl elbowed Anna, interrupting this strange moment between the two of them, telling her that she had a very talented brother; Anna could only chuckle and thank her warmly before looking at Mary, as if the girl had told her the greatest joke on Earth.

As they finished the first recording, they got a small pause. Anna and Mary went up the stage, thrilled about what had just happened in front of their eyes, everything looking so fake to all who knew _Queen_ , even if Freddie was putting on a great show.

“So,” Roger said, his drumsticks in his hands as he stood next to Brian when the girls arrived.

“Compliments or truth,” Anna asked, and Brian could only sigh as he listened to the two of them.

“How was my faking it?”

“Absolutely terrible, I loved it,” she admitted with a wide grin, and then she looked up at Brian. “He was so terrible, if I were the leader I would fire him.”

“Already tried,” Brian admitted with a small smile, “even if there is no leader here. But he told me that if he's out and becomes a dentist he will hunt me until he gets all my teeth.”

“Scary Tooth Fairy.”

“Effective,” Roger corrected. “Next take I should only brush the pans and plates, a new artistic choice, because I guess my beauty already radiates enough.”

“Big show off,” Freddie said coming their way with John. “You barely smiled during the whole performance, just when Brian mouthed “We look ridiculous”,” he pointed out. “John laughed at that one too!”

“John, you looked as if a demon sucked your soul out of your body at one point,” Anna said as Mary nodded enthusiastically before giggling a bit.

“A demon sucked my soul out of my body years ago, this is why I can stand these three here,” John admitted sarcastically, knowing perfectly that Anna would catch the joke.

“Always a pleasure to hear, John,” Roger remarked.

“My pleasure, don't worry Roger.”

“Boys,” a voice apostrophed them, “two more takes and you're free!” The director himself came near them, with a satisfied expression. “You were all fantastic, nobody saw that it was on tape. Nobody.”

“We are extremely happy then,” Freddie answered, making a happy gesture towards him. “Marvelous.”

“Yeah, marvelous,” Roger repeated, as he stopped himself from rolling his eyes.

“See young man? This drum kit isn't as bad at all,” the director commented as Roger boiled from the inside, putting on a fake smile before bursting, hoping he wouldn't burst.

“Exactly what my brother was telling him,” Anna interrupted as the director quickly looked at her. She put her hand on Brian's shoulder, confidently. “Roger really out stood himself during this performance!”

“You are Mrs. May,” the director happily remarked as Brian made big eyes towards Anna. Her only reply was a look, worth a million words – play along or somebody will punch the guy and I bet on Roger, ten bucks.

“Yes, of course, my little sister, a poetess to be,” Brian said, uncomfortable with the whole situation. “Smart, looks like me, intelligent and very... Imaginative.”

“A great gift in the family I guess,” the director complimented as Anna fluttered her eyelashes with a sheepish smile.

“Absolutely, it runs in the family,” Brian sighed and was saved by the bell announcing the next take and the man left the group. “You'll owe me one you two,” Brian said, looking at Anna and Roger.

“But don't you live and lie for your sister,” Freddie asked, a cheeky smile on his face as Brian just came back to his spot, defeated. Freddie winked and followed him.

“Thanks,” Roger whispered, looking at Anna who only smiled.

* * *

She giggled a long moment after they left the BBC studios, along with Mary. The two of them couldn't get enough of their fake performance, imitating them, Anna mostly making Roger's annoyed face as the whole team had a laugh, except for Roger who thought that her acting skills were very, _very_ poor actually, not capturing the essence of his carelessness. She pretended to held the drumsticks, with only her fingertips, just like a posh princess and drummed in the air, making kissy faces, the ones Roger always did while he was concentrated.

It was time for celebration. But the team had to be complete, and it wasn't without Chrissie, Brian's girlfriend, and Veronica, John's, and both of them had to take their instruments back home. The ones who had nothing to carry with them – unless their poor hurt ego by some cheap imitations – decided to go to a pub, to get a drink before eating something when the others would come. Mary, Freddie, Roger and Anna parted ways with Brian and John near a nice pub where they would stay until the others would join them. The same pub Anna and Brian had eaten the last time they went to the market to see Roger and Freddie in their little shop. The pub was actually pretty nicely decorated, plants were climbing everywhere and the lighting was reddish as the sun came slowly down; people were already laughing inside, a few pints already taken, having a great time it seemed. The small group seated at a large table, saving some space for the four others yet to come.

Anna was sitting next to Roger, facing Mary, they both smiled at each other every time the boys were talking about the performance, again and again. Anna ordered a pint for herself, and so did the others. Loudly speaking, they were somehow ecstatic about what had happened to them – forgetting about the fake playing part – because, bloody hell, they were on the BBC, fake playing or not. And that, after months of doubts, sleepless nights and arguments. Something incredible. And as the others slowly arrived, the memories of what happened were surfacing again, just like new adventures to be told to Chrissie and Veronica mostly but not only. The whole situation made the two girls who weren't there laugh immensely; at some point, Anna mentioned the fact that Brian has a sister now as she looked at Chrissie and Brian rolled his eyes.

“I did it for the greater good,” she explained herself, a hand on her chest. “Roger was ready to throw hands with the manager of the BBC, which, in my opinion, wasn't as good as planned.”

“They guy deserved it,” Roger loudly said, rising his pint as he looked at Anna. “I killed the performance nonetheless.”

“You were playing like a slag, Roger,” Anna told him, her boldness coming from the second pint she drank in the evening, after eating some chicken pie. “Sluggishly,” she added as Roger's mouth went agape. He absolutely wasn't expecting that comment coming from her. Absolutely not. Nor were the others whose expressions were priceless now.

“Anna killed Roger and maybe not only Roger I'm afraid,” Brian remarked, not impressed by his friend's attitude at all, as Freddie started to laugh and clapped his hands.

“You better watch out for your sister's mouth,” Roger threatened, as he looked at Brian, “you should teach her manners, for fuck's sake,” he added as Anna gave him the most innocent smile ever. “And also, she's a liar so, you know, education went wrong somewhere.”

“Don't you talk like this about my sister, Roger,” Brian answered as Freddie hummed the tune of _Liar_ during the whole exchange as Anna tried hard to not burst into laughter with Mary. “And you,” he said while pointing at Anna, “young lady, are not allowed to drink anymore.”

“No fun, thought An and Bri would the best siblings on Earth” she complained, pouting like a child which made the whole group smile.

“You'll thank me tomorrow.”

As they finished their dinner, already tipsy, they were heading to the club, in need of space to dance.

Anna was the first in line to leave her jacket in the cloakroom, all excited to be able to dance, freely. She loved dancing, it was absolutely her thing – obviously when she was bold enough to do it. Roger waited with her for a few minutes at the others were giving their coats away, her sparkling eyes were looking at him as she looked excited about what was about to come. He looked at this tall girl, getting as excited as a small child before Christmas just because she was having a great time with her friends. And once Mary and Freddie joined her, she became unstoppable.

She loved music, she loved how her body pulsed with it, she loved being free and careless. She shouted so many lyrics along with Freddie as they had their arms around each other's shoulder, lulling their heads. She danced with Mary, among other bodies, putting her arms on her shoulders, as if they were about to slow dance, moving in sync with the melodies; everything was so heated, it was so hot in here, people were looking at them under the flickering lights as a group of people, mostly the trio, was dancing, attracting all eyes on them. And Anna was radiating, her smile could give goosebumps, her laugh was so divine, and people – some of them especially – were noticing it.

She was able to see Brian, Chrissie, John – who after a few drinks started to tilt his head, and it was only a matter of time before he took his girlfriend to dance – and Veronica with the corner of her eye, but Roger was nowhere to be seen now. The last time she saw him, he was sitting next to a girl who played with the straw in her drink, giggling as Roger spoke to her. A typical Roger move, she saw him in action many times, classic. And she headed towards Brian, asking Chrissie if she could borrow her boyfriend, and her own brother, to dance a bit with him, a smiling Chrissie nodded as Brian dramatically bid her adieu. Anna had Brian's hands in hers, choppy movements were made, laughs exchanged and, as if they were in high school, they began to have great time together, dancing. And after a moment, Anna came closer to Brian's ear.

“Roger's rogering around, as always,” she commented, going through Brian's hair to say it into his ear.

“Typical Roger,” he admitted with a little smirk, “bonus points if he brings the girl back home. But won't happen tonight.”

“Ten bucks we don't see him and he's with the girl tonight,” Anna bet, looking confidently at Brian.

“Ten buck he gets back home alone, but maybe a bit relieved,” Brian told her as he offered her his hand to bet.

“I'm gonna be rich,” Anna chanted, teasing him as she danced away, joining Freddie and Mary, her arms carelessly moving in the air as Brian stood there, laughing before going back to sit next to his girlfriend.

Anna felt like suffocating after a few moments, it was so hot in here, and her being tipsy and thirsty wasn't helping it at all, she had to take another beer, screw Brian's lessons about not drinking too much, she was just happily tipsy, not blackout tipsy. Not yet. She had to grab a drink, right now. She looked at the bar, no Brian in sight, which was actually a very nice surprise – was he dancing? Making out with Chrissie? Who knew. – and this was Anna's opportunity to take another pint. Marvelous. She ordered a beer, drumming on the counter as the bartender was taking a pint and filling it, the drink foamed and almost fell out from the glass, but the bartender's talents were way too good to let it happen. He put the drink in front of her, and as she reached her pocket to pay the drink, a pale hand put the money in front of her. She fluttered her eyelashes, looking at the man next to her, paying her drink. She was ready to smile at him, thank him and tell him that that's not because he paid her a drink she would dance with him. Instead, she saw Roger's blue eyes looking at her, his smiling eyes.

“Drink's on me,” he said as the bartender took the money and slid away.

“Wow, Mr. Taylor's such a gentleman tonight,” she remarked, her hand on the glass. “Want some,” she offered before rising the pint to her lips.

“Enjoy your drink, I'll take a shot.”

“Oooh,” Anna gasped after drinking a sip of her beer, “didn't manage to catch that girl?”

“What?”

“I actually lost ten bucks because of you,” she admitted as she looked at him with a smile, “ was pretty sure you'd bring that girl home, but was wrong. My bad, respectable sir.”

“You're fucking shitfaced Anna,” he whispered as the bartender gave him a shot.

“Not yet,” she replied rising her finger before taking another sip, “but soon to be if I drink too much.” Her eyes were gleaming under the club's lights, reflecting purples, blues and reds as she looked at him for a longer moment.

“What?”

“Wanna dance with me, Mr. Taylor, pretty please,” she almost begged like a little child, as she was finishing her pint before standing next to him, waiting for an answer. She stretched her hand towards him. “Pretty please?”

“Yup, wanna dance with you,” he finally said and drank the shot before taking her hand.

With Roger's hand in hers, she managed to get through the dancing bodies to find a nice spot to dance with him, somewhere where they would have a little more space. She began to move, between the dancing bodies, locking her eyes on him as she mouthed the lyrics of the songs she heard. She was absolutely feeling it, she close her eyes as Roger was drawn to her. They began to dance together, slowly, her back against his chest now; she felt every breath he took, every movement he made. He had his hands around her waist, as he put his chin on her shoulder, slowly moving with her, in sync. None of them cared about how this looked, the music was good and the moment so perfect, nothing could ruin it. After a few beats, she decided to face him, putting her hands around his neck as he still had his hands on her waist, and she looked deeply into his blue eyes. Maybe for too long, she didn't know, but everything seemed to fade around them, the bodies blurred and only him. She was tipsy, slightly drunk, it was all because of the drinks she had, the last pint was maybe too much, she had to admit it.

And then, her eyes lighted up, Roger saw it before he could hear anything. She heard the first notes of _Seven Seas of Rhye_. She almost screamed, as Roger smiled fondly looking at her. She looked for the band, and she found them, standing next to the bar, all looking at them dancing and she caught Freddie's gaze with a large smile. And before Roger could tell anything, she grabbed his hand off her waist and took him through the crowd again, to join the dancing band.

And as their arrived, Freddie's voice blasted in the club. Anna took Chrissie by her hand, and began to dance with her, amused by the whole situation, as the girl shyly moved along with her. Freddie's arm around Mary's shoulder, he was singing the lyrics, trying to out-voice the speakers as Brian faked playing guitar, standing next to Roger who drummed in the air, with his fingers. John took a shy Veronica by the hand, and began to dance with her, as she giggled during the whole dance.

“I belong to you forever,” Roger sang, looking at Anna, she was stunning and careless as she danced with Chrissie, smiling.

“Forever, forever,” Brian continued as he elbowed Roger with a little smile.

Their first success, their first successful night, a great celebration. Maybe one of the greatest moment in their lives, especially for some of them.


	4. Belonging

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Rhye, the Rainbow and the Raw

Rays of sun penetrated through the curtains she forgot to close when she came back home yesterday, in the middle of the night, absolutely – but not too much – drunk. Too happy about her friends' success, she let herself go and drank too much against Brian's will. And Lord, how much she regretted that last beer that Roger paid her, and the other ones following _Seven Seas of Rhye_. She had forgotten how dark the hungover place was, and how much light was aggressive towards her eyes when her head ached like it didn't for almost half a year – or even more, she couldn't really remember. The fact: she had a hungover. Another fact: it was noon indeed, and she barely remembered who walked her home yesterday – she could bet on Brian and Chrissie, but nothing was certain in her blurry mind. Why didn't she listen to Brian again...? Yes, pride. And fun. Too much of fun.

She lazily got out of her bed, shambling her way towards her bathroom. And there, she discovered her face. Oh Lord, she wished she hadn't. She had forgotten to wipe her make-up off her face when she was back home, and her panda-like look reminded her why she should have. But drunk Anna seemed to be useless, apparently, unless for dancing and drinking – these were her jams. The harsh yellowish light hit her eyes, and she struggled to wash her face without feeling either sick or dizzy. She did everything backwards, not even drinking a glass of water to soothe her hungover before cleaning her face up: useless. Sluggish and useless. She sighed as she looked at her face in the mirror, again, staring for a longer moment than intended, her hands on the edges of the sink. She recalled her dancing moment with Roger. What did she had had in mind at that particular moment, she wondered, putting her wet cold hand on her forehead. She decided to head to her living room, hoping to find some pain-killers in her drawers. And she did, and didn't even hesitate to take one of them, before snuggling into her bed to lie under her blankets and to do what a hungovered Anna was able to do the best: sleep.

Whoever called her right now tried to be dead forever, and ever. Somebody tried to contact her, at this ungodly hour for a hungovered woman. She opened an eye to look at the hour, a reasonable hour to wake up in fact, four in the afternoon. Still an ungodly hour, she thought. With a smaller headache, thirsty, yet dissatisfied because of the abrupt wake, she lay on her back contemplating the vast ceiling above her. The telephone rang for about a minute – or even longer who the hell knew – and when she thought the person abandoned the idea to talk to her ever again, it rang again, and kept ringing until she actually decided to get up and answer. Probably her parents, they knew about her going out in the previous night, and because she didn't call them in the morning, they – her mother – were thinking she was dead and already buried in a dark place.

“Are you dead,” Brian's voice greeted her, with a fabulously concerned tone as she only blinked and coughed a bit. Not her parents, she felt obliged to call them right after.

“Was in a coma from yesterday's revelries,” she admitted, trying to wake her body and mind up.

“I told you to not drink that much,” he teased her and she groaned. “But I'm calling you to ask you if we can meet tomorrow for lunch, I need to talk to you about some things.”

“To scold me?”

“Among other things,” he added playfully. “At our pub?”

“At our pub,” she confirmed. “This time, I'm drinking only coke or tea, I promise.”

“We'll see that tomorrow, sweet sister.”

“See you tomorrow Bri,” she told him before he hung up.

Great. Now, her parents.

Anna sat in front of Brian, her elbows on the wooden table after the waiter came to ask them what they wanted to eat, and as always Anna couldn't resist the chicken pie on the menu, and Brian asked for some fish and chips. She looked at her fidgeting friend, trying to small talk her for a while before she could really see his anxiety grow. She knew Brian had anxiety problems back then, she knew it happened sometimes to him even now, but when it came right from him, when he genuinely wanted to talk about it, it was either catastrophic or really important. And she expected the latter.

She didn't want to push him, to force him to tell her what he needed to, so she sipped the tea as he talked about probably moving out his parent's house soon to live with Chrissie, and how happy he seemed to be with her. Nobody could argue. Seeing Brian this happy became her newest hobby – along with teasing him for his relationship –, when Chrisse was near him Brian beamed with joy – a smiling face Anna could kill for. She hoped his happiness would live forever with her, or just live for ever.

“I'm considering to stop my PhD,” Brian stated out of the blue, throwing Anna out of her dreamily balance about her friend's happiness. She almost chocked on her tea. Brian wanted to do what? She put the cup on the wooden table, and looked him right in the eye.

“You're joking,” she asked, astonished by what he was just telling her. Yes, his music was taking a huge part of his time, but Anna knew how much his PhD meant to him, since forever.

“Not at all, I'm deadly serious.” He planned it, he planned it all, she could be certain about it. But he wanted to know what she, his long-time friend, thought about his decision.

“Brian... We always spoke about getting our PhD's together! We're so close, we'll be Doctors Bri,” she said, as the waiter brought them their dishes and Anna smiled at him, thankful, before focusing on Brian again. “How long are you thinking about this?”

“For a long time, but really since the Top of the Pops performance,” he admitted, rolling up his sleeves and putting his dish right in front of him. “But I feel it Anna, I feel that _Queen_ is growing bigger and bigger, both in the music industry and in my life and I know it makes me happy, maybe as much as my PhD does... I don't know,” he whispered, toying with the chips on his plate, staring blankly at what he ordered. “I just need an advice, from an old friend,” he finally said, looking up at her with an imploring look.

“You know my advice,” Anna stated, maybe a bit too coldly for him because he looked down again, and began to stuff some fries on his fork. “Do whatever makes you happy, Bri.” His eyes lightened up, almost instantaneously, his beautiful eyes looking at her. Relief could be read on his face as she smiled. “I'll always support you, Bri. A boring astrophysicist? I'm here for it,” she said and he only could groan as she slightly laughed. “A a great rock star? I'm here for it too. A great astrophysicist and a boring rock star? Brian can be both, and I'm sure you can be even more than that.” She looked at him for a moment before getting a bite of her chicken pie.

“You aroused mixed feelings in my mind Anna, but mostly joy and gratefulness,” he admitted. “Thank you for being here, with me.”

“Thank you for dragging me into this crazy adventure of yours, I'm a mere mortal,” she joked.

“A great poetry Doctor to be, not a mere mortal,” he corrected.

“You're too flattering, Brian.”

“Never too much with such a great friend,” he stated and Anna rolled her eyes with a smile.

Such a great friend that he didn't forget to scold her about what happened the other night. Anna could feel how – after their lovely moment of sharing their deepest feelings of friendship – Brian wanted to talk to her about how badly she ended up being during that night. He couldn't forget to remind her how drunk she was when he walked her home with Chrissie – so she did remember well – and how loud she was in the street, wanting to party even more than before. He had to hold her by the hand so she wouldn't fall on her knees, with her reddish face. How embarrassing. He commented that her and Freddie were unbearable together, and that was why they split up as soon as they could to not let the two of them ruin their lives together, in unison. Anna laughed it off, not showing any discomfort she felt, before sipping her tea – as promised she didn't order a beer – and slightly moving her head in disapproval of what he said about her. She did remember that night, mostly, maybe not the part about going home, but her memories were clear enough to remember every important moment of that night. And her dance with Roger, vividly. Maybe too vividly. She felt as if everything shut down around them, as they danced against each other in rhythm. Everything was playful, careless, free.

“You were flirting,” Brian interrupted her long silence. “You were definitely flirting,” he emphasized as Anna's mouth went agape.

“I danced with Mary and Freddy too,” she defended herself, her fingernails drumming on the wood. “He had his hands on your hips, you were both alone in a dark corner... Should I continue?”

“Yes and,” she asked, trying to play it cool, cooler than she thought. Because, really, she refused to see Brian's concern about what started to bloom between them.

“Freddie saw Roger's games a countless number of times...”

“Fred's a snitch,” she stated, a smirk on her face which made her friend sigh.

“But he has a point. And at that point, you were close to your drunken state.”

“ I wasn't,” she vigorously protested.

“Chrissie saw you at the bar drinking with Roger.”

“Bad sister-in-law,” she commented, biting her lower lip.

“You owe me ten bucks too,” Brian said, rising his finger.

“Jesus, you'll have your ten bucks, Mr. Boring Rock Star!” Her annoyance made him chuckle.

“Aggressive, already,” he replied, his eyes closed as he shook delicately his locks. “But I could bet another ten bucks that if not _Seven Seas of Rhye_ , he'd kiss you in that corner.”

“For God's sake,” she almost exclaimed, exhausted by this discussion, before remembering she was in a public place. With all eyes on her now. She shrunk on her chair, under Brian's amused gaze. “Roger is your band mate, I heard so many stories about him and I'm not that stupid Bri... This was all fun and nothing else,” she lowered her tone in order to convince him – as well as herself – that this moment meant nothing. Not at that moment. Nothing.

“If you say so,” Brian replied, not convinced at all by what she had just said as he felt hesitation in her voice.

“I'll already have my success when my brother's band will become the best band in the world, why would I date one of its members when one of them is family, huh?” She smiled.

“You forget a small, tiny detail, young lady,” Brian said after he chuckled.

“You'll live and lie for me,” she quoted, as she moved her shoulders as a small girl proud of what she just did.

“I hate you so much, sister.”

“Me too, brother.”

* * *

Anna ran her way towards the Rainbow, with her hair strictly tied, her pencil skirt making it difficult to run along with the small heels she wore. How much she regretted that she hadn't done the same choice as Brian: leaving her PhD and to be free. But without money, and any talent – unlike Brian and the band – she couldn't afford stopping her studies. She still had some books in her bag, she hadn't had the time to go home and change herself, so she had to improvise her venue at the Rainbow on that night.

The gig began at eight thirty, and the first call for the sound-check was at six. It was already seven thirty and she was still running in the streets, passing by people already there, in advance, all excited and happy to finally see their favorite band on stage. She got a few funny looks from the – stylish – people there, she had to admit that her outfit wasn't really gig related. And if she was them, she would have given herself the same look. But instead, they gave her another look when she had to rummage her bag in order to find a paper allowing her in as a staff member. Nobody made the link to the infamous rumor of her being Brian's sister, her hair was tied.

With the help of some technicians, she ran towards the wardrobe. She hoped that Freddie had everything they needed to create the fantasy make-up he wanted to go for with the whole group. She stormed in the room, to find the boys sitting in their white robes laughing for no reason – there was a reason, she just missed it. She had a funny look from Roger who couldn't really recognize her, her hair tied-up and her outfit weren't the usual Anna outfit features.

“Darling, you're saving us,” Freddie stated, being the first one to greet her as Brian just winked at her and John just smiled.

“Not with that look,” Roger commented and Anna tried to stay as calm as possible when putting down her bag full of papers and books and other things.

“I'm not the one sitting in a robe,” she replied before looking back at Freddie, “so, we should begin the whole make-up session, right?”

“Mary's outside, she should be back in a minute!”

“Perfect,” she stated and rolled up the sleeves of her burgundy turtleneck. “So, tell me what we're going for with the make-up?”

“I want it to be dramatic darling!”

“Not too dramatic,” Brian warned her, because he saw her eyes beginning to glisten. She was excited to do another thing than trying to explain the 'hidden message' of Shakespeare's poems.

“Brian already has this flowy-silky top you see over there, and mine matches his” Freddie said as he pointed towards two beautiful tops and Anna looked at Brian and the top back and forth, not believing what Freddie had just said.

“Zandra Rhodes is an amazing designer, and the top is very nice and I really like it,” he defended himself as Anna just smiled. He would look gorgeous in this top.

“He was thrilled when he saw this wedding-top,” John said while looking at Anna with smiling eyes. This guy knew how to embarrass her childhood friend. And anybody in fact. And it always fascinated her.

Brian was thankful to see Mary enter the room again, and greet Anna. The two of them immediately took the make-up they needed to begin to decorate their friend's and lover's faces. To tease him even more, Anna began with Brian. She had a fun time putting too much powder on his face to make him sneeze from time to time and he would just groan and tell her that he wouldn't forget about this disgraceful moment. He wouldn't.

As Mary was occupied with John's face, Anna had to switch to Roger's. It was probably the first time she had to be this close to his face, surrounded by people laughing and talking, in this kind of discreet intimacy. She noticed how long his eyelashes were and how beautifully his eyes glistened in the yellowish light of the room. Her brushes wandered all over his face with powder, and she wished that this moment would last forever. She couldn't resist to do the same trick she did with Brian, but going slightly heavier on powder with him that with her childhood friend. He complained for a long time about how unprofessional she was, and how he pitied the children that were her students. So she made it even worse. Freddie insisted that she should put some eyeliner on his eyelids, just to underline the whole look, Roger protested because “nobody would ever see if I'm wearing make-up or not”, to which Freddie replied that he wanted to see him with some eyeliner everytime he would turn back and to look at him during the gig to admire the work of art Anna had created out of nothing. With a laugh, Anna absolutely agreed, and Brian did too.

“Fucking siblings,” Roger mumbled under his breath as he closed his eyes to let Anna apply the eyeliner.

Anna and Mary stood backstage, enjoying the music the best they could while being on make-up duty. From time to time, the band had to play through some power cuts, or more probably to compensate during the power cuts with Freddie's attitude and his amazing power over the audience. Above every issue they had to face, Freddie played with the audience as if he was the Black Queen herself. During every short interlude, the audience hung onto his words and replied enthusiastically. Brian's _White Queen_ gave Anna chills, as every time she heard the song, knowing exactly what it was about. She remembered when Brian first began to write the lyrics, when they were in high-school and this beautiful green-eyed blonde gave Brian goosebumps; but he never dared to go and talk to her, and when he had the occasion he lost every ounce of his soul and could only nod. From time to time, she caught Brian's eye and they exchanged a subtle smile before his fingers wandered on his guitar's strings again.

When the medley's moment came, Anna was really thrilled to hear Roger's voice in “ _In The Lap Of The Gods_ ”, it became a pure pleasure to hear his angelic voice contrasting with his womanizer personality. But above all, she liked how he showed off his voice. He always complained that being in the drummer position meant being put aside, so he absolutely refused to be put aside and did whatever he could to not be left behind. He worked hard on a song for every album they had made, and in this third album – Sheer Heart Attack – he wrote a beautiful song about living in the outskirts of a big city and being an outsider. As much as Anna loved lyrical ballads – such as Brian's – this song particularly resonated in her mind as an anthem to all these kids they used to be, hoping for a better future. She could hear herself promising, swearing to herself that she would become somebody and young Anna would have been proud of her.

After half an hour, John and Freddie came backstage in a hurry, leaving Brian and Roger on stage for a while. Freddie grabbed a glass of water from Mary's hands, as Anna handed a glass of beer to John – as he had requested. She gave him a warm smile, before Freddie began to talk.

“Roger is so pissed, I can see in his charming eyes how much he wants to destroy everything here,” he snapped catching his breath as he waited for the moment they had to be back on stage.

“He tries to knock his drums out apparently,” John added before putting the glass down and Anna smiled again.

“Classic Roger,” Anna commented with her arms crossed before she handed a towel to John to let him wipe his face before she could apply some powder on his face.

“But his liner is still on point,” Freddie added as Mary put some balm on his lips and he winked. Anna could only grin, and John couldn't contain his little chuckle.

“He still won't come off stage during the whole performance,” Mary asked with her finger pressed on Freddie's lips.

“If he comes off stage he won't go back on it, he's ready to throw his whole drum set on the audience at this point,” remarked John after Anna had finished.

“They're already finishing,” Mary said concerned, “go, go we'll see you in a minute!”

And they left on stage, again.

By the very end of the show, right after the few last notes of _Jailhouse Rock_ , Roger exploded. Under the blue lights, he pushed his drum set from the small elevated stage he was on and Anna saw the rage in his eyes after such a problematic gig. He almost made the drums fall on Freddie, who had moved right in time – without even knowing it. John was the first one to go backstage, with his bass on his shoulder still and reaching for another drink, Freddie quickly followed and Roger ran in, cursing. Brian made calmly his way towards the girls, after unplugging his guitar from the amp, and saluting the crowd again.

“These wankers and fuckers,” Roger kept on repeating. “Rainbow my ass! Thankfully we're paid for this shit!” John only reached for another drink, as he stayed silent eyeing every band member, not wanting to interfere into Roger's fulminations.

“Rog, it was fine,” Brian sighed and Anna already shook her head as she had a nervous smile on her face. Everytime the two disagreed on something – mostly on Roger's 'emotive' reactions – it never ended well. Mostly never.

“I'm fucking leaving this fucking place, I don't fucking care Brian that 'it was good'”, he mimicked his friend and Brian only rolled his eyes.

“There's only room for one hysterical queen, Roger,” Freddie remarked and Roger just groaned.

“Fine, I'm fucking leaving then,” he concluded, reaching for his jacket and starting to go towards the exit before getting struck by something. “I fucking live too far to go by foot, and they bought us here in a fucking taxi together.”

“You're stuck with us Rog,” Brian concluded as he began to take off his white top.

“Thanks Brian, you're a genius,” he sarcastically replied before almost throwing himself onto the couch next to Anna.

“I am indeed,” Brian replied with the same amount of sarcasm.

“Only one hysterical queen, Brian,” Freddie reminded them with a laugh, warning them with his index.

They all exchanged a look, and they felt a weight coming off their shoulders as they all began to laugh. All the tension was immediately gone with the wild wind. And Anna proceeded to take a make up wipe in order to clean Roger's sweaty face, he didn't even oppose when Anna's hands approached his face. As her fingers wandered on his face to remove the make up, she could feel his muscles relax under her touch, with his eyes closed. The others chatted loudly, but nothing could really disturb this quiet and quick moment – even Brian's glances.

It ended as soon as it began, leaving the White Queen and the White King to their occupations, with their friends.

* * *

When Anna heard that Veronica was pregnant and that John asked her to be his wife, and that they had planned a wedding in January, she almost jumped up and down in her small flat out of excitement as Brian entered the place with John and she prepared some tea for the three of them. It was a blissful surprise for all of them – but especially for John when he learned that the would be a father. Anna happily made her way towards the small table they were sitting around, and put the fuming cups in front of their noses with a genuine smile on her face surrounded by her fluffy locks. She first asked if she could help with anything, and then said that if needed she could be by Veronica's side as often as needed when not working – because now, both of them were teachers in the same school and had some gossips to share. John was absolutely grateful for having a friend on his side caring so much about Veronica, because he knew she had friends but knowing that one of his own friends was able to “understand” his wife was an absolute relief – not that Brian or Freddie couldn't help or weren't willing to, but he knew that Anna would probably be a less embarrassing friend of his to stay with Veronica if needed, and he refused to talk about Roger for this, because he knew it wouldn't be a good idea.

“Thank you Anna for your kindness,” John said again after sipping some tea from his cup. “But I also came here with an unusual request.”

“Tell me John, I'll try to figure this out,” she replied after having arched an eyebrow, a little bit curious. She thought about Veronica, it had to be about Veronica for sure. She couldn't imagine anything other than that. But what unusual request it would be?

“I want you to be one of my groomsmen,” John declared and Anna almost chocked on her tea making Brian chuckle a bit.

“I told you she wouldn't be ready to hear it,” he teased John as Anna had to wipe the drops of tea from her chin.

“Groomsmen,” she repeated. It was way more than a surprise coming from John, the man faithful to traditions. “You know John, I would love to but, as in 'groomsmen' it's about being a man, you know... I can be a bridesmaid, I mean if you want! I don't want to pressure you into that or anything, I was just telling you that it would be great if...”

“I want you to be my groomswoman,” John repeated clearly as he looked her right in the eye after stopping her ramblings. “I know it's uncommon, but you are my friend first and foremost, and as much as I want to have the boys by my side during the wedding and my friends, I want to have you too.” His face was illuminated by a genuine smile, a smile a child could have when asking for a favor, something that was dear to their heart and that would immediately kill them if it wasn't provided. And Anna wanted to keep John happy, because he was her friend too, and she just felt happy that he thought of her as his too.

“If it doesn't bother you more than that, I would love to be your groomswoman, John,” she replied with a smile before Brian gave her a gentle pat on her shoulder.

“I told you that she would say yes. The only thing that scares her more than people's looks are spiders,” he joked and she just sighed.

“We don't joke with spiders, Bri,” she whined before rolling her eyes. “So,” she quickly said, “where and when we're having your bachelor party?”

“And I also told you that she wouldn't miss a chance to have fun,” Brian added making the two of them laugh.

Freddie was the one organizing the party at his flat. As John's witness, he insisted on doing this party as it should have been done – minus the strip club part, because he knew that Veronica wouldn't appreciate her husband-to-be going in such places and because Anna was with them, not because it would have been awkward for them or her but because nobody would let her in in such a club without being a huge jerk to her – and prepared a feast with candlelight and beers for the groomspals. A noun of Freddie's own invention he proudly exposed to John and Anna once – because darlings, we need to include our other May to the pack!

Anna had never really paid attention as she should have to Freddie's decoration of his flat, and God knew how much time she had spent in it with Mary drinking wine. The ground was covered with these large old-patterned carpets laying one on another creating a nice volume to the floor, with vintage cushions thrown almost everywhere on the seats or the sofa, and the red curtains covering the windows of the living room, dimming the lights of the place as if it was a dream. A beautiful midwinter night's dream. And this dreamlike atmosphere gave her happy chills.

It wasn't even late December, and she already expected some snow to fall this year in London as she walked down the street. She only hoped that the groom and the bride wouldn't have to freeze in the snow when they would get married. The wedding was to be held in January, on the eighteenth but John wanted to celebrate his bachelor party as soon as he could – and as late as he could, according to Freddie – because of Christmas and New Year's eve that they would probably spend together. Anna still wondered what they were about to make for the New Year's Eve together this year, as a huge band. They had already spent a few Eves together, but this year Freddie talked about something grand. And honestly, Anna couldn't wait to see that. All of this destroyed John's plans to combine his party and New Year's Eve, a proposition Freddie had immediately refused while making a great fuss about it – Veronica had said that to Anna while they were on a recess together, drinking tea. And now, Freddie was running everywhere putting cans of beer on the table, not even being able to greet Anna properly at the door, a task delegated to Brian who gladly welcomed her inside.

John had invited a few childhood friends to celebrate his last moments – not the lasts darling! – as a bachelor, they were a happy dozen there, drinking some alcohol and singing while talking about things and others. First, Anna could feel tension in the air as John's friends began to join the party. She noticed how they looked at her, not knowing if this lady sitting right here next to Brian laughing with him pretty loudly and devoured by Roger's eyes was a hooker or the infamous Anna John couldn't shut up about. But slowly, the atmosphere loosened up with alcohol's help. Yet, apparently, there was never enough alcohol for Freddie and John who began to dance together to some tunes on the radio. They danced effortlessly, Freddie was a great dancer indeed, but Deacy was nicknamed the dancing queen for a reason: his fluid and unpredictable movements were candy to the guest's eyes. Anna couldn't stop herself from laughing, her head resting on Brian's shoulder, her legs crossed and her eyes now looking at Roger. He was smoking another cigarette in a detached manner, his blue hooded eyes locked on her for a while – at least, she thought so – and she couldn't tell what that look meant. What this little sparkle in his eyes meant. Especially after the Top Of the Pops night. Almost nine months had passed and they had never talked about that night. It was an uneasy subject for both of them, for one reason or another, yet their friendship never ceased. They only caught themselves staring at each other from time to time, a little bit longer than intended, or to be a little more tactile than before. Anna noticed that she thought a lot about him, for no apparent reason, probably because he was fun to hang out with, a great and powerful song-writer who came from time to time to seek some advice, a caring man and a really exceptional friend. Or maybe even more.

Suddenly, she heard a thud next to her, making her break contact with Roger's eyes before anyone would notice. John fell on the couch next to her, with a blissfully happy expression, a feeling nobody in the room shared with him after this big fall. His cheeks were even redder than before, and his head was slightly spinning as he took a beer from the table in front of him, another one gone into his mind.

“Ronnie is truly the love of my life,” he stated after having gulped the whole beer at once. He seemed happy and loosen up. He seemed in another world, yet stuck in reality. And Anna wasn't sure if it was a new state or not. “I love her so much, I'm going to be a dad you know guys... I hope we'll have many many children together, with Ronnie...”

“You will,” one of his friends said, patting his forearm gently from the chair next to John.

“I can tell you that Ronnie is very happy to be by your side,” Anna added, her head no longer on Brian's shoulder. She was facing John with a tipsy yet concerned smile.

“Thank you for being here with us Anna,” John immediately replied, grabbing her by her hands with smiling yet vacant eyes. “I know it's a funny request for a traditional guy like me but I'm glad you accepted it and that you're here with us...”

“John you're so sappy mate,” Roger remarked before taking another puff on his cigarette. “Should slow down on the alcohol sometime soon.”

“Don't be ridiculous Roger darling,” Freddie interrupted him as he put his arms around Roger's neck and rested his chin on his shoulder. “Don't be such a killjoy and let our baby Deacy drink a bit!”

And they drank. Never too much.

**Author's Note:**

> If you liked it leave a comment or a kudo and if you want you can find me on [Tumblr](https://zwiezraczek.tumblr.com/) where I mostly shitpost and ramble about my current love for Ben Hardy (or other people when I have another phase haha)


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